In sales, you can’t lose anything you don’t already have

The fear of losing a sale that has yet to be completed has kept many salespeople from doing what needs to be done to actually close the sale — or close the file if the sale can’t be completed.

When the selling process starts to drag on — a prospect doesn’t follow through with commitments or otherwise stalls the process — salespeople need to be assertive and address the issue with the prospect. Often, however, the fear of being perceived as desperate or pushy prevents salespeople from taking that action.

What are you waiting for? At any given moment during the business day, there are untold numbers of salespeople working at their desks updating their customer and prospect databases, reorganizing their files, checking the progress of previous orders, planning and rehearsing presentations, gathering and generating data for proposals and presentations, re-computing the value of their sales funnels, and a host of other “sales related” activities.

When you are engaged in these and similar activities, ask yourself, “Am I really working or avoiding real work?” While all of the activities mentioned are appropriate and necessary from time to time, they are not necessary all the time. All too often, salespeople perform busywork — work that allows them to look and feel busy — to avoid some of the more unpleasant work of sales such as prospecting and dealing with rejection. 

You make the call.

Situation: Feedback from your customer of just over six months has been very positive. When you initially closed the account, the customer held out a carrot — additional business from two other company divisions — as a negotiating ploy to obtain more favorable payment terms, which you provided. You have yet to see any business from the other divisions despite your subtle hints. What should you do?

Drop some additional hints, but don’t press the issue. Allow the customer to act on his own time. Be assertive and remind the prospect of his promise and suggest scheduling a meeting to discuss the phase-in of the additional business from the other divisions. Be very direct and inform the customer that if he doesn’t come up with the additional business promised, you’ll have to rescind the favorable payment terms.

Action: Dropping hints hasn’t worked up to this point. Dropping more probably won’t make a difference. Threatening the prospect is likely to damage the relationship, which is presumably good and profitable. So, taking a middle-ground approach is the most appropriate. Let the prospect know you are serious. You can be assertive without being pushy or overbearing. You need to obtain a commitment to move forward with the additional business.

Your request might sound like: “Jane, we’ve been doing business now for just over six months. The feedback I’ve received from you and other members of your company has been very positive. Everyone seems to be pleased. My sense is that it’s time to sit down and discuss phasing in the business you promised from the other divisions. When can we schedule a time to do that?”

You must remain unattached to the outcome: Having a conversation like the example above requires the salesperson to stay in his or her “adult ego state.” On a sales call, especially a prospecting call, you must be emotionally unattached to the outcome. If you become attached to the goal of turning every prospect into a customer, you will surely be disappointed. Disappointment leads to frustration, which can lead to procrastination or worse, saying and doing things that can cost you the sale, or not saying or doing the things that need to be said or done to close the sale — and so, the downward spiral begins.

You can’t lose something you don’t own, and you don’t “own” the sale until it’s closed. The only thing you risk by addressing the prospect’s delaying tactics is uncovering the truth. If the truth is that you’re not going to close the sale, it’s better to know sooner rather than later.

So, be “attached” to the process, not the outcome. As long as you focus on and work the process, the desirable outcome will follow.

Bob Bolak is president of Sandler Training. Contact him at bbolak@sandler.com.

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