We're continuing our deep dive in the Five Most Important Sales Questions. We've determined that budget is the most important question, decision criteria is the hardest to get a straight answer to and who else are you involving in the decision is the most sensitive. But,
4. Where are you (the prospect) in your decision process?
...drives your tactical sales approach. If you're late to their process your options are much more limited than if you're early. And, if your are not early, you're late! There is no middle. There is no even playing field. If you receive an RFP the same time as everyone else (and you didn't write it), you're late. A very good book on the topic of RFPs; "RFPs Suck..." , by Tom Searcy is a good read for effectively dealing with RFPs.
If you arrive early to their decision process your only goal is to create the decision playing field that all your competitors will have to play on. Move the decision along as quickly as possible and defend your ground. It is very important that in creating the playing field you establish only two or three key areas of differentiation that you will defend with your life. Don't worry if your competitors win on the small stuff. Remember, you don't have to win 100-0, just 51-49. Read the post on decision criteria for more detail on how to determine what is important.
If you arrive late, then you have no choice but to challenge the key differentiators your competitor(s) has established and do it early and with as much passion and fact (in that order) as you can. If you're late, all the little wins DON'T MATTER. Pick the big stuff and go hard. If you believe an important requirement for success is missing from their decision criteria, then lead with that. If you can add a new decision criteria to the process then you will win all the small points you'll need. You'll still have to win on the remaining important NEEDS and WANTS, but you will make up valuable lost time.
Remember, if you begin to see the slightest change in your prospect's behavior in the responsiveness or openess to your questions, then assume something has changed and go back and ask all FIVE questions again. You can go from early to late with nothing more than a new person being added to the decision process. Always knowing where they believe they are in their decision process is critical to accurate sales forecasting. Easy questions such as;
- "Are we still on track for an end of month agreement?"
- "Is installation by the 15th still critical?"
- "I just noticed you got a new SVP. What impact will that have on your decision timing?"
- "Anything new come up in your procurement process?"
One of the best ways to keep your finger on the pulse of their decision process and timing is to never take your finger off their pulse. If you own their process and they continue to let you own their process, your odds for winning the business go up measurably. If you're late, or become late, you either go big or go home.
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