I was attending an online sales kick off meeting where i heard Anthony Iannarino present. He is an international speaker, author, and sales leader. He posts daily sales tips and insights to The Sales Blog. Learn more about Anthony, his keynotes & workshops, or contact him directly.
He shared a list of 20 reasons why sales people lose deals. I found it incredibly useful and true. So, wanted to share the same with you all.
All these are addressed if you follow my SIMPLE framework for complex deals. This framework creates a step-by-step guide for you to increase your deal closures.
Here is the list of reasons Anthony shared in the keynote (with my personal notes explaining each one of them).
No compelling need:
We all know that for any prospect to decide and take action to buy something, there needs to be a compelling need for them to act now. Without the compelling need (or a burning platform) generally, there is no action. So, in the sales process, it is critical for us to create or identify the compelling need for the customer to take action. This also protects us from the biggest deal killer of all time, which is no deal.
Skipping stages of the sales process:
Selling is a process. Every product needs its own sales process. Some products are simple to sell, which means that all the steps or the process can be completed quickly, other products have a sales process that can be a week to a few months to even a few years.
One needs to define the sales process carefully, ensuring that the prospect is moved towards taking action and buying the product. Once the process is defined, it is critical that the sales executives follow the process. Trying to skip parts of the sales process only leads to incomplete information and the sale not going through.
Failing to control the process
This is probably the single biggest factors that high performing sales executives excel at. They control every stage of the sales process. They make sure that the remain in control, share the right kind of information and moving the prospect along the sales process at the right speed and involving the right people at the right time. Getting all the right people involved and following the deal strategy at all times.
Not staying in control of deals is probably one of the biggest mistakes that sales people do, that can be corrected quickly with a big impact on the overall conversion rates.
Failing to Gain commitments
In order to stay in control of the process, one needs to gain commitments from all the different stakeholders at each step of the process. Without commitment at each step of the process, there is no sale at the end of the process. This is like walking up the steps. You can reach the top without walking on all the steps first.
Failing to Create Value
Sales, more so with complex sales today require that you create or add value to your prospects and their business during every single interaction. This will ensure that you will continue to get time and ears of the key stakeholders through the process. How you can create value is by providing them with a different perspective or information that they already dont know about their own organisation, industry trends, uncovering latent needs or help create a vision for their future.
Focusing on Low Levels of Value
The kind of value that you or your product provides has a significant impact on how the sales process goes. If your prospect thinks that you provide low levels of value, you will be relegated to the lower end of the segment and the consequence of closing the deal with you being considered negligible. This does not augur well for your sale.
Failing to Elevate the conversation from Tactical to Strategic
This is where the business acumen of the sales executives play an important role. In order to be considered important investment, you need to be able to elevate your conversation to strateguic rather than stay at the tactical level. You need to be strategic from a perception, while tactical at the operational level.
Not developing a compelling case for change
The biggest deal killer is no action. In order to move your prospects, you need to create a compelling reason for them to change and change now. Failure to do so most likely results in the “No Deal” scenario.
Transactional Behaviours
While transactions are important, transactional behaviours are a no-no. You need to behave strategically, have a long term view of your relationship with the customer and transact when necessary.
Using Wrong communication Medium
Knowing your customers and stakeholders is critical in the sales process. This allows you to remain in control of the process. One of the most important thing to know about them is their preference of medium of communication. Some people like face-to-face conversations, some like email, some phone calls and some like to have conversations while sharing a drink or on social media. Knowing this and tailoring your communication accordingly creates a much better rapport and comfort with the stakeholder making it easier to gain their commitment.
Being Self Oriented
One of the biggest mistakes that sales people do today is to be self focused. Talking all the time about your product or company is not a great idea. You need to quickly establish your (company/product) credibility and move on to listen to your prospect. They will tell you how to tailor the conversation and which medium to use, who the key stakeholders are and a lot more if you give them the opportunity to do so.
Failing to identify the buying committee
If you don’t know who are your key decision makers and their influencers within the first few steps of the sales process, the chances of your winning the deal is minimal.
Failing to build consensus by Not Tailoring value to individual stakeholders
Most high performing sales executives are extremely good at this. They know the motivations of the different stakeholders in the sales process and tailor their communication with them in order to build consensus. This consensus is built before the final discussion is being done.
Not Dealing with Obstacles
Every sales process has objection handling as one of the phases as every prospect will have objections and questions. The earlier you are able to address them, the better off you are. In fact, i know of high performing sales executives who themselves bring up most of these objections at the start of the process and address them. This makes sure that there are no surprises as we move along and if these cant be addressed positively, we already know that the deal is not feasible and we can save ourselves and prospects a lot of time and effort. Prospects are also grateful if you step out of a deal if you cant address their biggest concerns as that shows that you respect their time as much as you do yours.
Focusing on Price instead of value
One sure shot way of reducing your conversation with your prospect is to focus on price. The only time this makes sense if you are solely competing on price.
Presenting Poorly
This is such a no brainer but I am always surprised by how many sales executives are poor presenters. This is such a great skill to possess and one that is so critical to their success, yet not many sales executives invest their time and effort in improving in this area.
Presenting what they haven’t said “yes to”
Most high performing sales executives already build consensus before they present their product or solution to the prospect, which makes this a formal process to be done with and with least challenges. Not many committees take decisions while in meeting. Decisions are already made even before the start of the meeting. Sales executives who understand this make sure that all the stakeholders have already said “yes” to their proposal before they present it to the committee.
Allowing the prospect to believe that price and value are the same thing
The earlier you are able to demonstrate the value that you, your product or your company brings to the table and are able to keep the conversation around the value, it becomes easier for you to differentiate between the value and the price.
Failing to provide necessary proof
If your prospect needs to see a proof that you or your product can deliver something, you need to get it to them as early in the process as possible. The failure to do so creates lack of trust, which is a deal killer.
Matching Competition price and strategy
Matching competition price and strategy means that you are no longer in control of your deal and that you don’t believe in the value that you provide to your prospect.
Poor Deal strategy
Every deal needs a clear strategy. This should include identification of the key stakeholders, their expectations, communication strategy, strategy around your competition, strategy on creating the vision and thought leadership with the key stakeholders, strategy for “No Decision”, which means identifying the compelling need for them to act and act now and a lot more. Failing to have a deal strategy is akin to “spray and pray”.
