So much of sales success in the enterprise software market space is a result of effective timing. Consider how pervasive time is in every opportunity we pursue: driving mechanism, compelling event, end of quarter, budget cycle, presenting first, presenting last, product life cycle, getting in early, forecast slippage, "please respond on or before," time to value, sales cycle, buying cycle, timeline, decision timeframe, billable hours, development schedule, sales momentum, time to market, early adopter, project deadline, rapid ROI, net present value...
If it wasn't for time, everything would happen at once. -- Woody Allen
Time and our uncertain economy. Taking time out to think about time is critical during this uncertain economy. The reason? From your prospect's perspective, waiting is much less risky than making a decision and funding an investment now.
Because of the all the changes in their business environment, your prospects devote less time to evaluating your software and value proposition and have fewer people to help them. Those conditions add time to their buying cycle and push out your deal.
In addition, your prospects look for creative ways to mitigate the impact of impending events that would normally force them to buy by a certain date. They’ll delay a project, negotiate an extension to maintain their current system—even stick their head in the sand making believe that something bad really isn't going to happen. Here's an example: Some of my clients sell software to companies in government-regulated industries. In the past, the threat of fines would keep those companies compliant with regulations on an ongoing basis. These days, however, we find that some companies would now rather risk a fine than absorb the expense and related risk of getting compliant now.
More delays. The companies some of us sell to send their purchasing managers to seminars and even hire consultants so they can learn how to negotiate better deals with us. They’ve become, in some cases, better buyers than we are sellers. As a result, those negotiations now take more time than before. The same goes for their lawyers, intent on reducing already high levels of risk and exposure. They are ever-vigilant, knowingly or unknowingly extending their company's time to value by delaying purchases, delivery, implementation and services. We all painfully realize that in the software industry we've rewarded our prospects with dramatic discounts for waiting to the end our financial quarters to buy.
Most important is to know why and when they are buying. Before I talk about controlling timing, you have to be able to answer this primary qualification question: What event or business condition requires them to buy when they say they will? If you don't have an answer, you may be looking at a deal that is destined to slip into next quarter, next year or never happen at all.
Influencing timing. Assuming that the competitive playing field is even (granted, that's a big assumption), here are some tips on how to influence timing, rather than be controlled by time:
Get in there early. The best insurance against you losing control of timing at the end of your selling cycle is to build relationships with key buyers and future decision makers before they are in buying mode. Target the companies you are going to invest time in selling to. Meet the key executives. Provide value. Understand their business. Establish yourself as a knowledgeable and trusted resource. Later on when they are buying, you'll be connected to the people who have the authority to shorten the buying process. By the way, this approach—pursuing targeted accounts—is the best way to prevent yourself from being sucked into depending on blind RFPs as your primary source of leads.
Negotiate with people in your prospect's companies to whom the lawyers and purchasing agents report early on. At the beginning of an evaluation cycle you can negotiate skipping (or at least expediting) some steps later on. I've seen this done very effectively by reps who work for my clients and I've done it myself. "Ms. Prospect. I'm going to pull out all the stops to provide you with what you need to evaluate my offering. If, at the end of your evaluation, you decide that my company is in the best position to provide you with a solution that meets your requirements, can I count upon you to work along side me to expedite the process through purchasing and legal?" Get that commitment early. Later on, when you’ve been selected, you can call upon that executive to deliver on her promise.
Uncover or create urgency on their part. When you unequivocally link the business value of your product or service directly to your prospect achieving a critical component of their business plan, time is on your side. If you can prove you can reduce expenses or drive additional revenue, all the better. Find out which people are financially responsible for that department, project, operation or initiative. The pressure is on for them more than ever before to perform— strategically, operationally and financially. If you can prove the business value and mitigate the risk, you can get them selling on your behalf. And you can get them to help you drive the process forward, faster.
Maintain momentum. Don't allow your prospect to "use up" all your value too early in their buying cycle. Calculate the value of every asset (a visit from your CEO, presentations by domain experts, customer references, corporate visits, ROI models, case studies, product demonstrations, conference room pilots, rapid prototyping, etc.) from your prospect's perspective and then plan their deployment in a way that will create, then maintain an ever increasing level of energy for the duration of their buying process. Pace yourself.
Get your prospect to sign up for a plan. You'll need to merge the steps of their buying process with those of your selling process and get your prospect to agree to the timing of the steps in that plan early on. Understand that early in their buying cycle you, as a potential supplier, have much more leverage than later because your prospect needs information from you. Negotiate with them then, not after they have what they need. Put whatever you negotiate in writing before you start spending your company's money on winning that business. If you do that, you'll find that you have more control over timing. In addition, when you have a plan agreed to by the prospect, the resources within your company (including management) will be more likely to contribute to your efforts.
Don't forecast deals for the end of the quarter. When you do negotiate that plan you’re your prospect, insist on a date at least four weeks before your quarter ends as the basis of your sales objective. Then flawlessly execute your tactical plan, driving hard toward that date. Four weeks will provide you with a buffer in case things progress more slowly than agreed upon with your prospect. By the way, you can assume that your prospect already knows the pressures on you and your company to deliver revenue by the end of the quarter, especially if yours is a public company, so be prepared for delays.
Find out in advance from your prospect what might delay their purchase. Real or perceived risk is one of the factors that will keep your prospect from going forward. Make sure that you have identified every area of potential risk and have the proof at hand—the people, resources, messages, documents, guarantees—to assure your prospect that risk not an obstacle for them going forward. Work along with your prospect not in contention with them by eliciting objections early enough to respond rather than react.
Get advice from other vendors. Ask other vendors who supply that prospect to coach you on timing as it relates to their own experience. They'll tell you where the bottlenecks are, whom to approach for help in getting things expedited, how and when, and what reality is when it comes to your prospect signing a contract.
Compress the space between events. Always work to speed things up. Get back to them, before they expect you to, with answers to their questions. Set the next phone call for tomorrow, not next week. Cover more at meetings with prospects so, as a result, there are fewer meetings. Spend more time with more people each time you visit your prospect to shorten the relationship-building phase. Anticipate their needs. Not only can you compress timelines, but gain respect and credibility at the same time.
Uncertain economic times cause an elevation in real and perceived risk. When risk is elevated, buyers take more time to make decisions, if they make them at all. What do the winners do? They spend more time focusing on time.
Dave Stein is president of The Stein Advantage, Inc., and author of the Amazon best selling, How Winners Sell: 21 Proven Strategies to Outsell Your Competition and Win the Big Sale. His unique skills in competitive sales strategies and political positioning have helped thousands of sales professionals in 48 states and 23 countries win hundreds of millions of dollars of business against insurmountable odds.
Specializing in large, enterprise sales opportunities, Dave is much in demand as a speaker, consultant, coach, and trainer. He has worked with companies small and large, from $5 million in sales to the Fortune 500, including IBM, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, Invensys plc, NEC, AMS, ALLTEL, Pitney Bowes, Siemens, McGraw Hill, Sungard, Standard & Poor's and Bayer.
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