HappyGilmore

Account Executive

Should I walk away from this deal?

Wanting to get some advice on whether to walk away from a deal I am currently working, and I'll provide some context.

I've been in talks with this organization since August, and they're on the lower end I'd say in terms of their qualifications for the segment I'm working in. The main issue I'm seeing at this point is in most of our meetings especially with the head of IT, we tend to talk in circles. They name drop customers of ours, yet want us to do all of the work when it comes to implementation and setting up their instance, which has lead to a scope of work that's the size of an enterprise customer, not an SMB customer.

At this stage, they still don't feel like everything we've laid out for the scope of work is clear, and we're about to have our 5th meeting on this, for an organization of less than 200 employees, it feels excessive.

Should I continue to power through and find a way to agree with them on the scope of work, or walk away knowing they are wanting a ton of hand-holding from us?

👑 Sales Strategy

👓 Deal Reviews

21

35 comments

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antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

9

Bravado's Resident Asshole

I personally would just set it and forget it, not necessarily walk away. It takes the "i have this deal" syndrome away from you and puts the ball in their court. They probably feel as if you need them to sign, when in reality.. you don't.

jefe

Arsonist

8

🍁

Best move here - leave it to them. Define your scope and let them agree or not.

HappyGilmore

Politicker

3

Account Executive

That's what my gut is leaning towards currently, more of an urgency for them to sign knowing it's a Q1 timeline they are looking to get up and running.

GDO

Politicker

2

BDM

yeah take a passive stance

lilhunter

Good Citizen

0

independent sales consultant

If you keep them, charge for extra services! Worst sales mistake I ever made was not doubling the price of a contract where they expected a lot of implementation. I ended up working nights/weekends and basically zeroed out the commission I actually made on the deal.

Phillip_J_Fry

Opinionated

4

Director of Revenue

Are you charging for implementation services? If so, give them an idea of what that cost will look like. Assuming it's too high, tell them that they probably don't need that level of implementation and offer them something realistic for their org size.

HappyGilmore

Politicker

0

Account Executive

Yes and with their requests in the SOW, they've gone from about a 10k implementation to almost 90k. We've told them before that in our segment, we've never seen anyone do this in the SMB segment.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

3

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Do they have a specific request regarding the SOW? Are they budgeted for the amount of work that they need, or are they just angling for free consulting?
You can simply say, "we've gone around a few times, and we cannot commit any more resources to any more meetings until we know that this will be moving forward. What is keeping you from being able to commit?"

HappyGilmore

Politicker

2

Account Executive

Multiple specific requests. Typically our implementation services are a set price for customers in the SMB category. That being said they want the "white glove service" and in taking into account their service requests, they've 8x'd the cost of a standard implementation, into this custom SOW.
I like that callout question, especially cause we've given quite a bit of resources at this stage.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

3

Sales Rep

Love these

Sunbunny31

Politicker

1

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Yeah, it's a "get on with it" strategy. And if they're the ones under the gun to get going, then they're the ones who should be sweating a bit. Your hand holding can only go so far uncontracted.

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

3

Director, Revenue Enablement

Back up and try to understand why this is happening.
Is their Head of IT coming from a larger enterprise company?Are they strapped on resources to do the work on their end?Have they been burned in the past on similar projects?
It's going to be difficult at best for you to find a solution if you don't understand their history.

HappyGilmore

Politicker

1

Account Executive

He's not, he's been with this company for multiple years and its their first time using a tool like this.
In a way it's almost analysis by paralysis

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

2

Director, Revenue Enablement

What you are describing reminds me of a blog post I read a few months ago.

We all know about FOMO (fear of missing out) but was we are dealing with now is FOMU (fear of messing up). Buyers are, to your point, paralyzed and unwilling to make a decision. Instead of using FOMO to dial up urgency the suggestion was to:

1) Understand the consequences of messing up
2) Arm your champions with real data to help them support the decision in a buying committee
3) know your buyer. Deeply know them as a person so that you can overcome the fear emotion they are experiencing

Sunbunny31

Politicker

2

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I really like these points. Very useful.

oldcloser

Arsonist

3

💀

Really odd- sounds like a case of fan boy for tech. Do they fully understand the solution? Doesn’t sound like cause to quit though. I’d push it to an answer.

HappyGilmore

Politicker

2

Account Executive

They fully understand the solution. The hangup however is understanding their level of work that's involved versus ours. Most clients of their size do the work on their end to get up and running, versus their approach is in a way of pressing a magic button to get the software to work with minimal involvement & maintenance

oldcloser

Arsonist

2

💀

So, that’s where you’re at. Is it going to be worth the effort. I’d only advise making that call after you’re sure your head is cool. Pros and cons thing. You know best.

HappyGilmore

Politicker

2

Account Executive

Totally, I'm also taking into account the thought of "will they be this way as a customer?".
Last thing I'd want to do is have them put our CS in a difficult spot after signing on board.

oldcloser

Arsonist

3

💀

I feel ya. Just don’t let frustration lead. That just never turns out right. You got this.

wolfofmiami

Opinionated

2

🐺

if youre tired of it ask your manager if you can hand the deal to a newer rep and say you'll split commission with them, you'll help a new rep and still get paid on it and won't have to deal with the headache

HappyGilmore

Politicker

1

Account Executive

Could be more of my manager and I coming to an agreement on how to work this tbh

Beans

Big Shot

2

Enterprise Account Executive

Have you tried to break down all the steps necessary into a kind of joint execution/action plan? You align specific tasks to each org, seller & prospect, tags responsible parties (company and individual) and set expected completion dates. Holds both sides accountable and will gauge their true intent to buy.

HappyGilmore

Politicker

1

Account Executive

It's been presented but maybe there's an angle to saying who's going to own what in the implementation phase. I think the discussion around who's owning what from their side isn't clear in their talks, and is leading to each person wanting minimal work involvement.

Beans

Big Shot

1

Enterprise Account Executive

Yea time to start assigning homework if they want this to get done.

2

Chief Revenue Officer

You have earned the right to be professionally direct and to set a time for a decision. Ask for specifics on what is needed for a decision to be made and who is going to make the decision. You may need to send a "break up" message
Your time is your currency. Practice ruthless disqualification and only spend time with companies that have a measurable bad thing occurring, money to address the problem and a timeline for a resolution.

Maximas

Tycoon

2

Senior Sales Executive

Don't push as hard,as seriously why did it take them a full 5 meetings just to realize that it's not the scope of work you're offering them, unless they became not interested or the deal is not on their current schedule.
If they need you they'll make sure to find you!!

2

Retired Sales Professional

Take the advice and:

lowhangersalesbanger

Executive

1

Director of Sales

I would just put the ball in their court and then go dark unless they come back with a redline contract or a signature. You have to weigh how much of your productive time are they taking versus the value they represent to you and your team.

SoccerandSales

Big Shot

1

Account Executive

I would start pushing back more. Make it clear that you are not willing to bend over backwards for this deal and it likely will become easier. Don't think you need to walk away yet

SalesPharaoh

Big Shot

1

Senior Account Executive

Go with your leadership and basically lay out what you can do. That's it. This is your scope, if they can agree with that perfect. If not then the deal was never yours to begin with.

0

i think you should.

0

Director, Business Development

I understand your attachment to the deal and the unwillingness to throw it all away considering how much time you put in to it. It’s totally normal.
However, have you spoken to Finance at any point during these discussions? Do you have confirmation on the budget? If not, then it is a deal I would have my doubts of closing.
As far as being them being a SMB well this is kind of normal in my industry. It’s the multi-million dollar accounts that are on automatic pilot and leave you alone but the smaller ones will eat up ALL your time and bring EVERYONE in the company to each meeting. Why? Smaller companies operate through a more centralized but consensus driven decision making process.
My suggestion is to have them commit to a hard start date (implementation date) sometime in the future. Then create a calendar where you work backwards with hard deadlines leading up to the date. Present it in a way where you’re doing them a favor (calendar is filling up fast for 2024!)
If they can’t commit to a hard date then you probably have your answer.
Keep the date firm but you stay soft a flexible. Let the calendar be the bad guy.
Just my couple of pennies.
Good luck.

0

Sales and Business Consultant

If they are difficult now, they will be a difficult customer, and if you get paid on remetion, you are screew. Moreover, it seems like they really don't fit your company's offerings

GoBlue

Old School Bravo

0

National Account manager

depends on your pipeline. As below I would set my offer and charge for extras.

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