Closing the Sale When You Lead – Do Nothing Strategy
You are ahead in the sales game. The first strategy is to do nothing. Here the sales person is counting on the system to take care of him or her. This is a high risk approach that assumes your competition will take no action to overtake you. This is what we call an errant assumption. Meaning that incorrect assumptions lead to all bad decisions.
Your competition will be working harder than ever to find any opening to delay the decision, or reopen the sales process with new specifications, new information, or new situations that will change the playing field dynamics.
Losing sales people use the “do nothing” strategy too often. This is a passive approach is caused by several factors. One, they have low self-esteem and sometimes feel they are unworthy of success. They actually feel the only reason they are in front is luck! And since they believe in bad luck, they are now waiting for the proverbial “other shoe to fall” canceling the order.
The second reason is one of arrogance. This deadly attitude can cause a sale to fall apart at the last moment. When a sales person shows arrogance to either the competition or their customer, the ball is set in motion for an upset. When the customer senses this attitude, their trust level drops and uncertainty enters the game.
The most common tactic used by the customer when arrogance is recognized is the sudden stall in the sales process. The clearest signal is missed deadlines at critical closing milestones. Other people begin to enter the playing field for the sale, usually for the first time, and the sales person takes no action to meet these people or learn about any new issues or concerns. Then, someone else wins the sale!. It happens because the sales person lost focus at a critical juncture of the sales game.
Voss Graham
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Tags: B2B selling, Closing the Sale, Tactics and Strategies to closing the deal