By Michael Lang

A salesperson returns from their first meeting with a potential customer:

His sales manager asked, “How was the meeting?”

The salesperson simply responded with, “It was good, yeah, it went well.”

The sales manager wanted to know more and asked, “Why was the meeting good?”

“I think the client will buy from me,” responded the salesperson.

“Why do you think the client will buy from you?” quizzed the sales manager.

The salesperson answered, “Well, they liked us. They like the product/service, we got on well and they do need us.”

“Okay, so what's the next step?” asked the sales manager.

”I need to put together a proposal, once that's done, they'll get back to me.” explained the salesperson.

The sales manager responded, “So, when will they be making a decision by?”

”Pretty soon. I think within the next 2 weeks.” responded the salesperson

”What's their budget? Ok, did you ask specifically?
I don't want to come across as frustrated, but why not?” the sales manager replied.

The salesperson replied with, “I didn't get a specific figure. They didn't say. The client just said it was a good fit.

“Ok then - why would they not buy from us?” asked the sales manager.

“Price I guess. I didn’t ask the client,” the salesperson responded with.

The sales manager’s tone changed dramatically,

“What the heck do you do at client meetings?? You don't know when they are making a decision, you don't know their budget, you have no idea why we could lose this deal and you're now telling me you're gonna waste time on a proposal. You've been gone 3 hours. What do you actually do all day?”

The salesperson’s response infuriated the boss even more: “The client liked me, they want what we have!”

Does the dialogue above sound all too familiar to you? 

It could be why your sales forecasting sucks, why clients ask for discounts constantly and why deals are taking longer to close.

Want to change the conversations your salespeople are having with clients?

Reach out to SG Partners and see how we can help to help you create even more effective salespeople.