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Over the past year, it seems that prospects have been taking longer and longer to make a decision about buying our services. I understand that budgets are tight and decision makers are taking extra steps to ensure that they are spending wisely, but is there anything my sales staff and I can do to push potential clients along without scaring them off?
—Anonymous
We all know how frustrating it is when a sales opportunity we’ve been working on suddenly stalls out. Our instinctive response is to begin thinking of ways to accelerate the prospect’s decision about the sale, usually by offering some financial incentive (a discount). Paradoxically, this often has the opposite effect. The prospect senses your eagerness, which may be perceived as desperation, making you less attractive, and causing a further delay in purchasing your product or service. Is there a better way?
Craig James is senior vice president of sales at Chairman's View, a company that provides firms offering business advisory services an opportunity to expand by building a "Chairman" practice. He can be reached at cjames@chairmansview.com.
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