Game 7 - There is No Tomorrow with These Sales Opportunities

Guest post by: Dave Kurlan
Become an Author

Free PDF Download
Salespeople Must Stop Snorkeling and Start Scuba Diving - By Dave Kurlan

I had hoped to write this post a day earlier, before the drama of game 7 actually played out, before the outcome was in the books. But busy happened.

I was thinking about all of the Game 7's that occur for companies, sales teams and salespeople, when there is no tomorrow.

I believe the phenomenon is counter-intuitive. You hear about the last week of the month, quarter and year, and the sales managers that are putting on full-court presses, making calls, getting executive help and working overtime to get deals done. But, in these scenarios, there is a tomorrow, at least from the prospects' perspective. They can just as easily buy from you or someone else next week, next month or next year. All this drama is just so that the sales folks can hit their numbers and they are only in these life or death situations - every month, quarter and year - because they didn't work the sales process as defined. They skipped steps, didn't uncover the compelling reasons to buy, weren't thorough enough, didn't qualify effectively, and as a result, because of their artificial deadline, are offering price incentives to get the business closed today. It's a bad strategy. As soon as a competitor offers their price incentives to take the business away, your customer is either gone or becomes unprofitable.

There are some opportunities that do come down to No Tomorrow. But those are customer/prospect driven, not sales driven. Believe it or not, most sales organizations do not respond to the real Game 7 scenarios with the same urgency as they do in my previous example. It seems that when it's more about "who will we choose?", instead of "How much of a discount will you offer?", salespeople are woefully ill-equipped to do what it takes to will a victory the way the Lakers did last night.

This is actually #19 of the Top 20 Requirements - How Salespeople Can be Better at Closing - differentiating themselves without talking about how they're different, but by asking questions instead.

Speaking of differentiating, I just learned that this Blog, Understanding the Sales Force, was named one of the Top 20 Blogs on Sales by the folks that write the Lead Generation Blog called, About Leads.

In summary, don't turn opportunities where there IS a tomorrow into a desperate, "How much of a price concession do we have to make?", last ditch effort to close it today scenario, but do turn a customer/prospect-initiated deadline into a Game 7 scenario where you do whatever it takes to earn that business!

Game 7 - There is No Tomorrow with This Sales Opportunity

Changing the Game

Sales Force Motivation - Learn from the Red Sox' Miraculous Comeback

I'll Do It Tomorrow

Its BIG to be small

Attitude

How to Achieve Success When You Miss an Opportunity

What the Huge Patriots Win Teaches us About Sales Momentum

Key Team Roles - What Happens If,,,

LEADERS: NOT THE PAST CONSCIOUS BUT FOCUS ON FUTURE

Why You Should Always Keep Your Marketing Hat On.

Do You Have A Game Plan?

Changing the future

Invest in your Future; Practice Prospecting

Which are you, the Ant or the Grasshopper?

What to avoid when cold calling?

Doing Good and Having Fun Can Transcend a Language Barrier

Time Management Tip - Make an Appointment with Yourself

Is that Top Producer Accidentally Successful?

Forex Market Outlook 10/25/11

Home > Sales > Dave Kurlan > Game 7 There is No Tomorrow with These Sales Opportunities > Google +

Free PDF Download
Salespeople Must Stop Snorkeling and Start Scuba Diving - By Dave Kurlan

About the Author: Dave Kurlan

RSS for Dave's articles - Visit Dave's website
Dave Kurlan is a best-selling author, top-rated speaker and thought leader on sales development. He is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling (Dan Seidman), Stepping Stones (Deepak Chopra and Brian Tracey) and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2 (David Riklan).
Click here to visit Dave's website.

More from Dave Kurlan
Salesperson Selection
Visual Pipeline
Predict Sales Turnover

Share this article. Fund someone's dream.

Share this post and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Game 7 - There is No Tomorrow with These Sales Opportunities

Related Articles

Related Forum Posts

Share this article. Fund someone's dream.


Name:
Email: