EMEAsFinest

Enterprise Account Executive

Should I be worried?

Good sized deal (~70k) I've been working for a few months told us they wanted to move forward with us a couple weeks ago. There was one key feature we lacked which our competitor had but we still won it with overall functionality and pricing. Agreed to a close plan and set up a customer reference call with their EB but that person didn't show up, although the project owner/mobiliser did.

Anyway haven't heard back from them since Tuesday afternoon and they also haven't been responsive on a questionnaire we sent them to scope out the statement of work for their onboarding, now I'm worried that it's slipping away from me but my colleagues say I'm overthinking it.

Also sent an email to the mobiliser today saying that at this stage in the process it's productive for our executives to align so asked him if he was okay with my VP reaching out to their EB, no reply yet.

Am I overthinking it, and what would you do in this situation?

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Sunbunny31

Politicker

8

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Personally, I'm always paranoid. Sometimes I'm right, sometimes they're just busy with something else and will get back to you.

That said, it's only been since Tuesday. What you might want to do once you do reestablish communication is set up a weekly or twice weekly call until the deal is signed. That way, you'll have a touchpoint that's set to review the SOE in person and tie off on all loose ends as you work toward getting the contract signed.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

4

🦊

The touch points with a little action item for everyone keeps you on track.

Maximas

Tycoon

0

Senior Sales Executive

Right!

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

1

Bravado's Resident Asshole

right here.

EMEAsFinest

Fire Starter

1

Enterprise Account Executive

That’s a great point actually, I should’ve added that weekly or biweekly recurring catch up on the call where they told us we were VOC, so duly noted for next time it happens

Sunbunny31

Politicker

1

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Yeah, it's a great way to stay aligned, and if they ghost you a bit here and there, you'll be meeting to cover off on outstanding items.

PapaRo

Fire Starter

4

President

Have you built a good rapport with anyone from that company during the sales process? In this situation there is usually one contact that I’ve mad e a good connection/relationship with and can be more candid in asking questions or inquiring what the hold up is.

Also, might be beneficial to lay low for a bit and ease up on the pressure.

detectivegibbles

Politicker

3

Sales Director

"Sometimes I can be overly punctual...does it make sense to move forward on the statement of work?"

I think you're fine but this is exactly why ANYONE in sales needs to always keep their pipeline full and constantly keep communication with their POCs to avoid discrepancies in next steps.

heatmiser

Good Citizen

1

Key Account Manager

You are not overthinking it but respectfully continue to use what avenues are available to you to continue to gather information. Keyword is respectfully.

Pachacuti

Politicker

1

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

You're smart to be paranoid but be careful about overthinking it too much. Things happen and while their sale is your #1 priority, its not theirs.
Do they have a procurement/buyer who's outside the normal process you can reach out to?

EMEAsFinest

Fire Starter

1

Enterprise Account Executive

Haven’t been introduced to procurement yet unfortunately so no, was supposed to happen once we tied down the SOW

Justatitle

Big Shot

0

Account Executive

Is there someone there you can go to as a champion to get insight?

TennisandSales

Politicker

0

Head Of Sales

idk if you should be worried or not.

But i do think good sales ppl are pessimistic about deals and thats how they avoid surprises. So if you are feeling nervous, then take action.

Make sure you get ahold of them to get the clarity that is needed.

Have your VP reach out still and try to make contact.

also, am i reading this right that your customer that was suppose to be a reference, no showed the meeting??

EMEAsFinest

Fire Starter

0

Enterprise Account Executive

Agree with you I’m just struggling to think of an action right now cause I don’t wanna apply too much pressure, probably give it until early next week before reaching out again.

And yeah you read that wrong, the customer showed up it’s their EB that didn’t, though she was the one specifically asking for the ref call. Their project owner/mobiliser did show up though so he had that conversation with our existing customer

BrianTracysLoveChild

Fire Starter

0

Account Manager

Do you have a coach inside the buying organization? Based on your post, if I was in your shoes that would be first stop. If the coach is providing everything's good kind of vibes, I might look to validate what my coach is telling me. I attached a picture from my paper copy of The New Strategic Selling - I've had this book in my library since 2000. The circle always reminded me of the sales cycle - we start in the begining, like we are learning to swim - once we get a little comfortable, we slow down and work on technique - like with a sale, the more time we put into an opportunity, it's easy to think you have the puzzle all figured out - only to *poof* something happen and it's back to panic
The phrase "a deal isn't a deal, until it's a deal" comes to mind. Wihtout the economic buyer/influence in the boat, moving to steps that assume the deal is done was risky.
Just my gut here, but you may have been used for price check against the competitor - and if not - the competitor didn't go down without a fight and probably dropped their number

ChumpChange

Politicker

0

Channel Manager

Sounds to me like it's going through the procurement/finance delay. Stay on course and see where it plays out. Be thoughtful but not overbearing.

EMEAsFinest

Fire Starter

0

Enterprise Account Executive

Update for anyone that’s interested: turns out they went silent because our champion, the head of people experience and engagement, is leaving the company at the end of the month…he was kind enough to get on a call with me to tell me but still, fuck me.

We’re multithreaded with the chief people officer and another IC at the company but have been told that although they still want to move forward with us, they’re going to wait until they’ve found a replacement. Well, we all know how that goes.

Any ideas or suggestions?

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