The “Give’th and Take’th” Approach for Sales Pro’s

As a sales pro, you have undoubtedly had more than a couple of opportunities stay stagnant in your pipeline. You can’t get that opportunity up the sales ladder and it’s causing you sleepless nights. We’ve all been there. I especially appreciate one technique that gets a sales opportunity up the ladder, or off of your ladder, and sales forecast, right away. Use this technique, and you’ll impress management and your pocketbook!

Let’s set the surroundings first. You have met several times with your prospect. Sincere interest has been shown on both sides. You have conducted great discovery sessions with your prospect and you both agree that there is a need for your product/service. You have presented the proposal, a strong cost-benefit analysis and/or return-on-investment analysis, and the deal sits. And sits. And sits. Your primary point of contact goes silent on you. “What the heck went wrong?” you ask. Absolutely frustrating, isn’t it?!

As a sales leader, I might have the following questions for you:

• How well do you have the decision-making landscape covered, i.e. who has influence and/or need and where? Where are your relationships?
• How well do you have the competitive landscape covered, i.e. against your prospect’s needs, who is strongest?
• How formidable is your “compelling reason to buy” from the prospect’s perspective?

As a sales pro, you might try the following:

As buyers of goods and services, whether we are consumer or business buyers, we possess a certain psychology and buying process. Our buying process shapes up this way:

• I/we have no problem and no need (BLISSFUL)
• I/we might have a problem and maybe a need (AWARE)
• I/we do have a problem and a definite need (ACTIVE)
• I/we determine best solutions to my problem and need (SEARCHING)
• I/ we select my best provider(s) (FINDER)
• I/we negotiate my best financial arrangement (NEGOTIATE)

If your opportunity is languishing in your 30/60/90 day pipeline, have you asked yourself a true and tried question, “Where is my prospect in their buying process?” Are they AWARE, are they a FINDER? Where are they? If the deal is slipping, you have likely misaligned your sales process to their buying process.

Try this to understand if you have or have not misaligned customer-buying and sales process. I call it the “Give’th and Take’th” approach. It goes something like this:

“Mr/Ms Buying Prospect, I have worked hard to put the best proposal in front of you that I possibly could assemble for you. I am concerned that I have had no feedback from you for XX weeks/days. I am concerned that either I have not presented enough information to you or that there may be no real apparent need for my product/service. If I do not receive a response from you in the next XX days, I will put our opportunity to work together in the “do not call file”. Please call me if you’d like to resume discussion.” You have “Given”, now you are about to “Take”.

This technique can be a great barometer of where you are with the prospect’s buying process. And it works with the enterprise client, SMB and the consumer. If the decision-making team is ACTIVE or further in their search process, you will get a response. No one wants a potential provider to “go away!” If there is no response, your sales process likely developed a bit ahead of the prospect’s buying process. You will need to re-align your sales strategy.

So when your next opportunity starts to slip in your pipeline, try the “Give’th and Take’th Approach”! I know, you’re thinking, “I would never tell a prospect that I am taking them off my list.” But remember that people often want what they do not have. If they are in the ACTIVE stage or further, they don’t want potential partners leaving the stage. Sometimes our buyers get so busy with other priorities that you opportunity loses visibility. They won’t leave you if there is a true need. If they do, it means you have a heckuva lot more selling to do, and you don’t need them hanging around in your sales forecast!!