9-6-2013
As a manager, I would often stroll into the sales bullpen and fiddle around in a file cabinet, disguising the real purpose of my visit. Plain and simple. I was there to eavesdrop on the telephone conversations my sellers were having with their clients.
Call me sneaky, if you must, but my surreptitious listening was almost always productive. Monitoring these one-sided dialogues helped me appreciate the challenges faced by my salespeople and gave me good ideas for training. You might be surprised how frequently I overheard one of these:
-- "How soon should I call you back?"
-- When do you think you will know?"
-- "What can I do to close this deal?"
-- "Do you have any more questions for me?"
All of these are variations on a theme and, translated, they mean that the potential customer has given the account executive a resounding "maybe." So, is the seller better off working with a "maybe" rather than a definitive "no." Before you answer, consider some of the likely reasons for a buyer to waffle about a purchase decision. The prospect:
-- Is not the decision-maker. The person with the final say-so might be the owner, the father, or just an unidentified superior but, in any event, it's not the person being asked for the business (see The Law of Decision-Makers).
-- Would love to say "yes" but business has not been good and the company simply cannot afford to spend the money. The buyer is waiting for things to turn around (see The Law of Qualification).
-- Is stalling as a negotiating tactic with hopes of getting a better deal from the seller. As the salesperson becomes frustrated by the delay, he may, indeed, try lowering the price (see The Law of Negotiation).
-- Isn't really convinced the purchase is a good idea or has other objections not yet verbalized (see The Law of Needs and The Law of Ears).
In virtually every case, the cause of "maybe" is something other than simply a prospect's inability to make a decision. As a consequence, sellers who react to "maybe" as really "a matter of time" are unlikely to ever hear a "yes." At best, they will waste precious energy (time = money) on a treadmill of indecision. At worst, they will inadvertently pressure clients into a firm "no."
The takeaway from this discussion is that top salespeople rarely accept "maybe" at face value. They have learned that an ambivalent prospect usually means there was a breakdown in the selling process. Rather than continue to press for a decision, perceptive account executives will take one or more steps backward, even returning to the Client Needs Analysis, making certain their customer relationship has a solid foundation
Salespeople dread hearing their clients say "no." But, I would argue that this apparent negative should be viewed as an opportunity for a future positive. At least when a prospect says "no," a seller can ask "Why not?", initiating a dialogue that can lead to a better result next time. But that productive process cannot begin as long as the wheels of commerce are mired in ??maybe.??
So, top-flight sellers will see "maybe" as an urgent call for remedial action. Experience has taught them that the correct answer to "When is 'maybe' worse than 'no'?" is "Always!"
Jon E. Horton is the author of The 22 Unbreakable Laws of Selling available in both paperback and Kindle versions from Amazon.com. Contact Jon@JonEHorton.com.
(9/6/2013 3:40:19 PM)
You obviously 'get it', Phil. We need more like you.
(9/6/2013 12:34:47 PM)
Jon,
"Maybe" or "I'll get back to you" causes false hope in inexperienced or weak sales reps. It's something that "isn't a no" in their mind and is offered as a positive when that sales rep reports to his boss.
These, of course, are 'call-backs', which, in my experience, yield a sale about 10% of the time. The other 90% is wasted time that could have been spent on better prospects.
We only have a fixed amount of selling time. It must be treated with the utmost respect. Flush out "false hopes" right then and there. Get a "NO" and find out 'why not'. Only then do the real objections surface.
Excellent insight, Dave! This issue falls under The Law of Expectations, the short version of which is that sellers must shape client expectations early and often.
(9/6/2013 7:31:51 AM)
I agree with your point. When I read the short tease before I clicked to the article, I thought you were referring to the Rep giving a Maybe to the client instead of a No, which can be just as much a problem. When a client asks for something that a rep knows a station won't do, they give the "let me go back and ask" response. The client believes they have a chance and gets excited, the PD is about to get a pitch, and we missed a chance to educate a client on what we know works.
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