blondeenigma

When they don’t share any info on competitors...

Do you see it as a red flag? My prospect seems to have a real pain that we can solve and our solution is the best there is on the market. But she is being reserved and wants to rush the cycle, without giving me any info on who else she is looking at... Any thoughts?

👑 Sales Strategy

☁️ Software Tech

☑️ Qualification Calls

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MrMotivation

Politicker

Sales

Depends. I experience this, but I work in usually longer sales cycles that require more steps than average. During discovery calls, I lay out the normal processes that need to take place in order to reach the end goal. Create a mutual plan for you both to follow that involves the steps that both sides need to work on. Whether it is getting more people involved, or getting data back to you that helps your pitch. That can either speed up the process, or slow it down if the prospect seems like they are moving through too fast.

In my experience, prospects who move too fast through the process are not the final DM. They have been tasked to evaluate on behalf of someone else and they rush through without checking the important boxes than an intelligent buyer would.

blondeenigma

Opinionated

My sales cycle is relatively long - can be condensed but if they want to properly look at the solution, 1-2 months are a comfortable minimum. During discovery I did what you suggested and informed her of the steps we take to ensure a proper in depth evaluation (I have a mutual success plan too) but she insists on doing it her way and wants to go straight to demo phase. Absolutely spot on though - she is not the final DM - she will be shortlisting and will only then allow me access to them, however we both know we are going to be “shortlisted” because we are the natural upgrade from her current software (+- 2 strong competitors but I know they will fall short on one of her main requirements). I can’t dedicate internal resources to this and do 4h demos without having some commitment that we are in the run - and she says the pre-recorded generic demos are not enough to shortlist....

MrMotivation

Politicker

Sales

Then tell her that. Everything is a negotiation. If she wants "x", she needs to provide you with "y"

Telehealth_2the_Moon

Notable Contributor

Director of Business Development

Can you clarify a bit about her being both reserved and rushing the cycle? Is she jumping right to asking for pricing/proposal/contract?

I personally like bringing up competitors or if they are going to require multiple quotes before finishing up earlier rather than later. A lot of companies now a days require multiple quotes before spending money, especially if you have an expensive solution.

I HATE when a deal's momentum dies while they are gathering quotes and going through the process with competitors. If your confident in your solution a strong way to show that is by inviting competition, and it also helps get the quotes out of the way so that if they are convinced you don't spend as much time in the "hurry up and wait" part of the cycle.

blondeenigma

Opinionated

Its not so much asking for price - she is happy with the ballparks but wants to rush to demo and skip a lot of the discovery. Our product is very comprehensive and we need to understand what the requirement is, down to the details, to ensure an elaborate and full demo. It makes me think she is looking at lower end solutions and getting this expectation for a short cycle from there.... which means one of us is in the wrong room.

Yes I think this is what it is - she definitely wants a quote but I can’t estimate more precisely than the ballpark list price before an alignment and demo.

Telehealth_2the_Moon

Notable Contributor

Director of Business Development

Yeah that is a frustration, this is all probably just to do it all over again for her higher ups. Sometimes it can pay off to hold firm about what you can and can't provide without more information and involvement, especially with a highly involved, long-sales cycle like you're explaining.

Rupert_Pupkin

Contributor

Account Executive

Sounds like it's time to test her as a champion. The competition reveal would be less important to me than whether she's willing to bring you to the EB for a meeting to make sure the problem you're solving is one he/she cares about. If they won't do that and keep trying to rush you through, probably best to respectfully walk away on the basis of "it seems like you still have some hesitation around introducing us to key stakeholders and potentially don't believe the solution will provide the value you need". See what their response is and if they let you walk, there's a good chance it wasn't a win anyway. Stay out of the vendor blender.

JDialz

Politicker

Chief Operating Officer

My company spends A LOT on market research. I usually feel well equipped to handle these situations because I know exactly what the differences in offerings are between us and them.

We also have what are objectively the best products and tools in our industry, but we don't flood the airwaves with ads like peer competitors do.

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blondeenigma

When they don’t share any info on competitors...

8 comments

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