GlenRoss

Account Executive

Selling to SMB is fun

Mini EOQ rant - had a prospect tell me they didn’t know if they could purchase this month after getting CEO approval bc the CFO told her to wait until their new CTO negotiates to see if they will still have budget for our product (I sell to the marketing department).

Same company hires the CTO within budget this week but now is saying for cash flow purposes need one sizable deal to come in before they sign.

Who runs these companies and is anyone else dealing with this shit?

😂 Sales Humor

🏰 War Stories

12 comments

Sort by:

369DocuSign

Big Shot

Sales Director

Comes with the SMB territory my man. Going to run into a lot of prospects who string you along, the ones who "need one more deal to close before signing" will always need one more deal before they sign, even if they don't. Fact of the matter is a lot of these companies either don't understand the value of proper marketing investments, or they're too scared of the risk because they can't afford to lose it. Keep them on the back burner just in case, but focus your time and mental energy instead on building a pipeline so large that when the "Broke Bois" fall through, it won't even matter. On to the next.

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

I've learned from my time in SMB that the CEO, CFO, CTO are often the same person (or like 2 people) and will just send you chasing your tail. Like @sheineken said, dont prioritize these deals. Set buying expectations really early in the conversation and do everything in your power to one call close these types of accounts, the more time goes by, the more excuses they will come up with not to pull the trigger.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Buyers. Are. Liars.

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

Don't worry, shit like this happens in Enterprise as well.

Blackwargreymon

Politicker

MDR

Call them out, draw a line in the sand, and go from there.

BlueJays2591

Politicker

Federal Business Dev Director

SMB can be a complete shit show, but so can Enterprise. They're all their own shit show in their own special little way.

Rallier

Politicker

SDR Manager and Consultant

I've found that SMB buyers are significantly less sophisticated, which makes their requests completely unreasonable sometimes.

On the flip side, some of these people are good to go right away

bdiggidy

Opinionated

Account Executive Mid-Market

Gotta create some uncertainty, maybe open the door for “creativity”, but ultimately show you’ll have to walk away otherwise- if it’s a need, they’ll be open to a discussion for you to find out, is it payment structure, price, or does this not even matter anymore and they’re kickin the can down the road

MR.StretchISR

Politicker

ISR

I show that to the customer once I feel the deal is qualified and I ask them to provide a GO LIVE date. At that point, it becomes my job to hold them accountable to that timeline. Sometimes it works great, sometimes you have to be flexible but the framework makes sense.

Clashingsoulsspell

Politicker

ISR

Your buyer must be emotionally invested in the outcome you are looking for (getting the deal closed by EOM). A lot of the times this can come from just being real snd honest, if they connect to the human, not the “deal/transaction” they have a higher propensity to convert

Bravado is a community of trusted sales professionals endorsed by their customers.

Products

The War Room Jobs Salary Guide Tech Sales U

Company

About Us How It Works Blog Bug Bounty

Contact

Press Careers

If you are hired as a contract sales rep by a Bravado customer, we may ask you to prove access to the employee email account provided to you by that customer. This data will be shared with customers to track your sales productivity; customers can use this data to confirm you meet the minimum activity requirements to pay out your ramp stipend and commission.

GlenRoss

Selling to SMB is fun

12 comments

Related posts

SMB sales VS Enterprise sales

Would you rather sell to SMB or Enterprise? Why?

More money in SaaS SMB or Mid-market?