You Don't Have To Close Today
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Lack of patience isn’t a helpful trait at the best of times. But in sales, it pretty much kills your ability to be effective.
It tends to manifest itself in the desire to close the deal yesterday i.e. a not-so-subconscious need to convert discussions into Dollars by the end of the call or meeting, no matter how little conversation has actually taken place.
We usually see this in two scenarios - when the salesperson is new and, when the salesperson is desperate (and, yes, sometimes those are one and the same).
When the salesperson is new, they want to prove themselves and get runs on the board. They’re faced with a dearth of opportunities and a strong desire to prove themselves, so every single prospect becomes critical. Because, where will the next opportunity possibly come from if I lose this one?
It’s the same thing when the salesperson is desperate. Usually, they’ve run out of leads, they haven’t prospected enough, and/or they've put all their chips in the “big fish” bucket, betting their quota on the million dollar sale, which are tough to come by. So every refusal is like a knife in the heart, sapping hopes and positivity and fueling one’s desperation in the next conversation.
Of course, both of these situations are part of the sales learning curve, and we’ll all go through them.
The problem arises when this lack of patience manifests itself in our behaviors and actions with prospects.
Instead of calmly working the situation, laying the groundwork, and developing the relationship, we keep pushing our proposals, suggesting alternative avenues that the client isn’t interested in, discounting prematurely, or giving away much more than we should in terms of ‘free stuff’. All in the hope that the prospect will say “yes”.
Except they don’t. The end result is invariably the same - the client gets put off and the opportunity is lost. Or the prospect senses our desperation and proceeds to extract far more than the pound of flesh they deserve (and that we should be giving). It’s either no deal or a bad deal and neither of those are good results.
There are many steps to resolving this problem - do your homework, prospect heavily, always maintain a portfolio of opportunities, don’t bank on the big fish (to the exclusion of all else), etc.
But perhaps the simplest, most effective is internal: a change of mindset - don’t expect the deal to close today. Be OK with laying the foundation.
Because building trust takes time, understanding the client needs takes time, deal development takes time. And when you’ve done the prep work, the output will be far more satisfying, impactful and long lasting. Easier said than done, I know, but worth practicing.
The deal doesn’t have to get closed today.
