Have you ever wasted time and effort on a sale that you weren't going to close anyway?
- What are you afraid of?
- Do you suffer from the scarcity mindset?
- Are you an amateur or a professional?
The fear of losing a sale that has yet to be completed haunts too many salespeople.
This fear prevents us from asking the questions that need to be asked. This fear prevents us from doing what needs to be done to either a) close the sale...or b) discover that the opportunity didn't really measure up after all, and then move on.
What is going on?
When the selling process starts to drag on, when a prospect doesn't follow through with a commitment or otherwise stalls the process, we need to be assertive - which is different from "aggressive" - and address the issues directly with the prospect.
What is going on? What will happen next? As a professional, you have a right and an obligation to ask these questions. Often, however, the fear of "alienating" the prospect and "destroying the opportunity" to close the sale prevents us from taking this kind of action.
If we let this fear stop us from finding out what is actually taking place, and adjusting our plans accordingly, we are amateur, and not professional, salespeople.
Reality Check
You can't lose a sale you haven't completed. The only thing you risk by addressing the prospect's delaying tactics directly is the "risk" of uncovering the truth. And, if the truth is that you're not going to close the sale, why on earth would you want to postpone learning about that?
Psychologists say that one cause of the thinking that keeps salespeople from facing reality with such prospects is a "scarcity" mentality. People with a scarcity mentality believe that there is not enough to go around. They believe that real opportunities are lacking. They believe that they must seize every opportunity because if they don't, someone else will seize it. Can you see how such thinking would cause you to hang on to dubious opportunities longer than appropriate and avoid behavior that might reveal the true value of the opportunity?
"I believe this sale will eventually come through."
"Therefore, I choose not to antagonize the prospect whom I believe to be acting on my behalf, even though I have had no proof that this prospect is acting on my behalf."
"If I were to antagonize this person, he might disapprove of me, and might turn to someone else."
Where does such thinking come from? Typically, from early childhood programming - the messages you received from your parents and other authority figures from the time you began to walk until mom and dad sent you off to school. You may have been told to count your blessings. Not bad advice, unless it was followed by the admonition to do so, because blessings are few and far between. Were you told that a penny saved was a penny earned? Were you told that money doesn't grow on trees? What was the emotional message behind those teachings? The word "hoarding" comes to mind. Isn't that what you are doing when you won't let go of a prospect who doesn't measure up?
Were you told that life is a contest or a struggle? The implication behind that message is that you are either a winner or a loser. If your actions are guided by that type of thinking, then the act of letting go of an opportunity, even a poor quality opportunity, means that you will lose and someone else, perhaps your competitor will win.
I Hate Prospecting
Another element that drives salespeople's fears and causes them to hang on to poor quality opportunities longer than they should is the realization that they will have to replace the prospect. Some salespeople will go to almost any length to avoid prospecting. For many, the perceived pain of prospecting is greater than the actual pain of income that is lost while they are hanging on to an opportunity that has stalled.
If you've been in the stalled sale situation, then you know that eventually, the balance tips in the other direction and the real pain of prospecting is far less than the pain of continuing to pursue on an opportunity that is going nowhere. You may remember the old commercial for Fram oil filters, with the world-weary mechanic who advised motorists who went too long between oil changes that they could "pay me now...or pay me later." The principle is precisely the same here. You can pay the small price now - prospecting - to replace the poor quality prospect. Or, you can pay the big price later - wasted time and energy, frustration, disappointment, and of course, no sale - and still be left with the need to prospect.