NorthernSalesGuru

Manager, Outbound Sales

Politicker

Valued Contributor

Catalyst

What’s the prospect’s word worth?

We’ve all been there.

The prospect who says they love us or are committed...

But still haven’t formally committed to your company.

How do you all perceive your prospect’s “word” when it comes to commitment without formal payment (or whatever your company requires to formalize a sale)?

👑 Sales Strategy

📈 Closing

🤷‍♂ Poll

47 comments

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TheDragon

Good Citizen

CVO

When asked how sure I am about a deal going through, I always tell my team 1%. Even if it’s at the finish line and everything is pointing the right way, until the contract is signed by all parties, it’s 1%.

closesomething

Opinionated

Account Executive

When asked about a deal, I always tell my director "we could be good...it could fall apart." You never dance until you're in the end zone.

NorthernSalesGuru

Politicker

Manager, Outbound Sales

Love it.

TheDragon

Good Citizen

CVO

You should probably give me an upvote so I don’t have to take you at your word 😁

NorthernSalesGuru

Politicker

Manager, Outbound Sales

Done ahah

Captain_Q

Arsonist

Sr. Account Executive

Nailed it.

Salespreuner

Big Shot

Regional Sales Director

Perfect. Nailed it 100%

JuicyKlay

Celebrated Contributor

You must not have a ton of CRM stages to move through with predefined probabilities.

TheDragon

Good Citizen

CVO

We only have 3 stages prior to being turned into a sales order.

softwarebro

Politicker

Sales Director

Words are words until contracts are signed.

I learned early in my career not to commit a deal based on “we love you and are going to buy”.

NorthernSalesGuru

Politicker

Manager, Outbound Sales

Yeah I’ve been taught the same

GongRipper

Good Citizen

Account Executive

Big facts here

overheard_sales

Politicker

CEO - Overheard_Sales

Part of it depends on who they are in the org. If my guy is telling me they love us, but won't intro me to his boss or move me up, I don't believe it. If it's a strong influencer or DM, I buy it

The_Sales_Badger

Notorious Answer

Account Executive

In your position, I can understand that. I always think, "If this person won't introduce their CEO to my CEO, then this isn't a real deal."

Well-said.

NorthernSalesGuru

Politicker

Manager, Outbound Sales

This makes complete sense

Salespreuner

Big Shot

Regional Sales Director

Absolutely. The movement matrix is important and required to confirm firmly.

GongRipper

Good Citizen

Account Executive

Buyers are liars. Sellers are liars. Don’t be cynical about the process but know the process won’t always work out. But that’s our messed up world I guess.

NorthernSalesGuru

Politicker

Manager, Outbound Sales

This could not be more true.

love the part about trying to avoid cyclical approach!

Shooter

Contributor

BDM

I am a pessimistic sales person. Until that pen hits the paper, or mouse hits the Adobe E-Sign button rather, it doesn’t count for shit. In my industry I’ve been strung along for months on end only to find out they ended up signing with a competitor. The decision maker matrix in the hospitality industry is complex as well. In some chains the managers have more decision making power than say the CEO, so while the CEO may be on board and give you good feedback the manager may hate your product and have their mind made up.

JustImpaired

Executive

Director of Sales

It's going to depend on your sales cycle a lot. How well do you know this prospect? How long have you worked with them?

At the end of the day though it isn't your job to care what they commit to verbally. It's your job to find the pain points and impress the urgency of solving them on to the prospect.

Even if they are telling the truth and it closes, what could you have done better to result in an outcome where they signed right then instead of saying they will later? If you successfully played to the urgency of the problem, they should be itching to sign.

NorthernSalesGuru

Politicker

Manager, Outbound Sales

This is awesome. Agreed!

SgtAE

WR Officer

I believe it depends on how much you reinforce to the customer the implications of what they are saying if they are committing to anything.

See this video for example from Benjamin.
https://youtu.be/S8yFUyD_JXU?t=340

At this point he's booked the meeting, as an SDR i'd consider my job done at this point. But Benjamin starts giving the prospect reasons why he shouldn't take the meeting.

What he's doing here is giving the customer all of the possible objections he usually faces and getting the prospect to verbally agree that this is not a problem for them.

By the time the prospect gets off the phone, not only did they agree to the meeting, but they verbally confirmed that a lot of the common objections which are usually faced have been overcome.

NorthernSalesGuru

Politicker

Manager, Outbound Sales

Video example?

The_Sales_Badger

Notorious Answer

Account Executive

In every one of my elevator pitches during an intitial discovery call, I center my messaging around transparency. "Mr/Mrs. Customer, so we can best utilize our time and ensure that we are fully on the same page, I can commit to being 100% transparent through this process. If we don't have that open communication, the tiniest detail or shift could compromise the project. Don't you agree, (first name)?"

Let me tell you; they love this. Of course, they're going to agree! Additionally, it's a great segue to eliminate their conception of your as a salesperson but rather a consultant. I personally believe that 2021 requires more of a consultative approach towards selling.

From then on out, you must hold them accountable to that transparency. Each meeting starts with a check-in; "Since we last spoke, has ANYTHING changed that we need to address to stay on track? Are we set to move forward with our conversation about ___________?". Collect your information, yadda-yadda-yadda.

The final step, and the most important. You have to ask difficult questions, but the nice part is, you already set the expectation on the first call. I usually say, "The end of the meeting is an open forum to allow us to discuss any potential hiccups or thoughts that may have come up during our since our last meeting.

1) Based on the information I gathered, it seems like accomplishing a,b,c are still top-priorities; are you comfortable with how we accomplished this?

2) "(if applicable), you mentioned something that you haven't before surrounding _________, how will that be beneficial to the project?"

3) "Finally, it sounds like we are headed in the right direction, is there anything else that could get in the way of us doing business together?"

I know this is long - bear with me....

The 3rd question could be asked in any variation, but it MUST be asked. My sales process is complexed, so I stay consistent with this method. Of course, some prospects will get squirrely, but for the most part, you build a professional relationship of trust.

So to answer your question - kind of. I trust them when they confirm we are still in the first place. I don't trust the yes in-between meetings. You can never predict what's happened unless your there. This is one way to find out.

Chapter 2. How to avoid drinking 2-cups of coffee before checking Bravado

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Wow 🥂

beerisforclosers

Politicker

Account Manager

Ah the root cause of my trust issues...

NorthernSalesGuru

Politicker

Manager, Outbound Sales

Lmao...and anxiety...

The_Sales_Badger

Notorious Answer

Account Executive

Now that's funny right there.

SalesSpectre

Opinionated

1. Always take them at their word.
2. Nothing is closed won till ink drips
3. Always have a full pipe

CREAM

Good Citizen

Manager

Have a built out plan that details key meetings and timelines that they agree to so you can hold them to it. Agree with @closesomething- never a sure thing.

Blackwargreymon

Politicker

MDR

Words are words until contracts are signed.

LordBusiness

Politicker

Chief Revenue Officer

I take most of what prospects say with a grain of salt, especially in negotiation,re-negotiation.

NorthernSalesGuru

Politicker

Manager, Outbound Sales

I’m curious, does this have any association with industry or deal size?

LordBusiness

Politicker

Chief Revenue Officer

Not from my viewpoint, shading the truth is part of all negotiation. Most humans don’t like conflict, so they would rather make up lies then get into the nitty gritty of the truth

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

I've had enough people commit and then never sign (or even sign and then try to get out of the contract later). Deals aren't done until they pay. The word isn't worth zero but it's a discounted value.

betweenworldandme

Good Citizen

Enterprise Account Executive

Words don't mean anything. Most people dislike difficult conversations so they will always act as if they really like everything that you have presented for you to not be pushy on call.

What they do over emails/how responsive they are, how frequently they are looking at stuff you've sent, are they getting traction internally (working with legal, procurement, etc) are signs that they are committed. Would never go by anything my prospect tells me on a call verbally. It pays to be paranoid in Sales I guess! :P

Rupert_Pupkin

Contributor

Account Executive

Yeah it depends on who the EB is. If you can't get the go/no-go from the EB either on a call or in writing, it's going to be more uncertain than you'd like. Easy to say, harder to do in practice.

courtchella

Praised Answer

SDR Manager

I never put a deal in forecast till I have verbal commit and MSAs out there

ReaganRose

Regional Sales Director

In my industry (pathology), a client can “trial.” As a Regional Director, it beguiles me that some of my reps celebrate an agreement to “trial.” Cool...so they pacified you. Now the REAL work starts. Words are nothing—deals die quickly when reps think their work is done at that initial yes.

SouthernSlanger

Valued Contributor

Director of Sales

Nothing until its signed.

Selichimorpha

Celebrated Contributor

Growth Executive

Until the contract is signed in my inbox I typically take their word at 50% accuracy.

Biznasty

Opinionated

Lead Business Development Manager

In sales a no is maybe and a yes is also a maybe until the contract is signed. #trustnoone

Finesy

Valued Contributor

Account Representative III

Their word means nothing. I’ve learned the hard way that you can’t depend on deals ever. That’s why I hate the questions from management at the end of a sales month like “what’s coming in for sure” or “what do you have in blood”

I once got crucified by a manager because the owner of the small company I was working for (context: I hadn’t been there quite 3 months yet and most sales reps didn’t sell their first deal before the 3 or 4 month mark) asked me if I was going to sell anything this month. He wasn’t asking nicely. He was annoyed. I said “ I think so” and smiled because I was excited I was about to make a sale. He looked at me in disgust and said “you THINK so?!?!?”

that company went under a couple years later.

MR.StretchISR

Politicker

ISR

TheDragon

Good Citizen

CVO

@GeneralCorp seems as if we have a bot in our midst… copy and paste of my reply a year ago… where’s the Bravado bot hunting squad?

TheDragon

Good Citizen

CVO

@BravadoMod @Gasty do your thing

Clashingsoulsspell

Politicker

ISR

We’re seeing some strong market signals as well, the live event industry getting smashed has most certainly helped

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NorthernSalesGuru

What’s the prospect’s word worth?

47 comments

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