One of the biggest complaints I hear from owners and managers is that “the stuff in the pipeline” just hasn’t closed.
What constitutes a stalled opportunity? Stalled opportunities are those deals which should have closed, but still continue to show up on the forecasted pipeline. We hear the prospective client saying things like, “We’re not ready yet”, or “the timing is off”, or “we love it, but we just aren’t ready”. Many times, we have left voicemails and hear nothing at all. Yet we still get “happy ears” -- we feel that there is still a reasonable chance to close so we continue to move forward, continue to forecast, continue to hope.
Hope is not a strategy.
Why are these opportunities so difficult to get re-started? They are difficult because we are unwilling to pay attention to the signals. When we are driving and see a yellow light, what do we do? We speed up. It is human nature. Wishy-washy signals from the prospect are the sales version of a yellow light. So what do we do? We speed up, ignoring the signal, not addressing the matter at hand or asking the tough questions.
Time kills deals…even good deals.
Why do we invest so much time and energy attempting to breathe life into these opportunities and to keep them in the pipeline? Because it is human nature to avoid conflict and rejection. We don’t want to hear “no”. We would much rather hear twelve months of “maybes” than one single “no”. On the surface, we think this is right – deep down we feel it’s wasted effort. The funny part is that every little bit of additional investment in a “maybe” causes us to avoid the “no” even more. We say and hear things like, “I have put so much into this deal already, and I can’t lose it now.” Lose what?
You can’t lose what you don’t have.
Some time back, we were working with a client that had many opportunities stuck in the pipeline. Our advice was, find the truth about each opportunity and remove them from the pipeline if appropriate. His response, “What if they are all no’s…then I have nothing!”
Your level of gutsiness is directly proportionate to how full your pipeline is.
How many stalled opportunities, that matter, do you or your people have in the pipeline? If the answer is more than five --- pay attention. FIND OUT THE TRUTH. TAKE THE PROSPECT OR CLIENT TO “NO” --- AND DO IT TODAY.
Here is how it is done. Tell the prospect what you are feeling or thinking, just tell them gently. Here is an example of what it sounds like: “Hey John, Sean Coyle, I know I left you a couple of messages and haven’t heard back from you. I am beginning to get the feeling that at some point you have made the decision that you have absolutely zero interest in some of the initiatives we have been speaking about over the last few months. Additionally, I am getting the feeling that you may be uncomfortable telling me so. John, please don’t be, it’s ok. If you could just give me a quick call back, I can close your file.”
This may not turn every stalled opportunity around, but it does restart the dialogue so that we can figure out if it is real or not. At worst case, we can finally get to the real reasons why someone may not be moving forward. Now we can decide does it make sense to rescue this opportunity or replace it.
Selling is no place to get your emotional needs met.
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