5 Tactics to Revive Stalled Deals
B2B buyers always have protracted decision making processes with endless back and forth, sadly often still no decision.
The uncertainty caused by the pandemic has only made it harder and slower to get decisions from prospects.
Are you hearing “We haven’t got the budget for this right now” or “We need to wait six months” or “Call me in 6 weeks”?
If your traditional follow-up calls – “I’m just checking in on our proposal” – aren’t getting any response, then I can help.
Have a look at these 5 tips and skillful questions for ideas on how to restart those deals stuck in your sales pipeline. They are 90% likely to be ready to close.
Get those stalled deals into this month’s forecast using my tips and questions:
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How interested are they?
When you hear ‘that’s very interesting’ or ‘we’re keen to progress this’ but still don’t get a decision it’s tough. If you’ve done a great job of selling it’s possible that they’re just not ready to buy right now.
Remember only 5% of buyers are ready to buy at any one time. The other 95% will be anywhere between status quo, committing to change and making a decision.
To uncover if they are ready to buy try asking:
What’s stopping you doing this now?
You won’t be alone if you feel uncomfortable asking this. But you and your prospects are busy people. Asking this question will save you both time, find out if they are ready so you can both focus on your real-time priorities.
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Who’s making the decision?
Do you always tend to sell to the person you’ve built a great relationship with? Is it working for you? You probably know that research points to over 5 decision-makers involved in every B2B purchase.
But Contacts feel undervalued if you ask them ‘Who else do we need to talk to” or “Who else is involved in this”. It might even stop you getting access to the other decision makers. Try this instead:
How are decisions like this typically made?
One of my clients dealt with a company selling high value capital goods for over 15 years without any contact with the CFO. When they started talking about the financial element of their proposal the CFO was introduced, the deal was won and the relationship strengthened.
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Risk Vs Return?
Purchasers are being asked to account for every penny they spend, budgets are tight and the risk of getting it wrong is high. Many are sticking with Suppliers and ways of doing things that they know work because it’s risk-free and easy. However, risk free has a cost – it often stops people from considering different, untested options with potentially better and more cost-effective outcomes.
Instill confidence using case studies and proof of concept trials to demonstrate that your solution will work. Check out if you’ve missed anything by asking:
Why wouldn’t you do this?
They will see themselves why their deal has stalled and the reason to do it.
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Do you really understand them?
Deals are lost all the time because they don’t ask the right questions early on. I heard recently about the loss of a £1m account; the deal wouldn’t have been lost if they’d been given the last price sooner.
Using a project or opportunity qualification sheet can help you gather all the critical information to develop your proposal and before you leave, do a Columbo and ask,
Just one more question…?
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Why now?
Spending time persuading your customers why they should choose you and demonstrating the advantages of working with you is really important. But when a deal has stalled it’s probably time to get them to consider:
What are the financial implications of not doing this now?
They’ll thank you for helping them save money or time or make more money.
It works, I know because I do it and use these tips and questions every day.
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