I have recently had the privilege of selling again after some turnover in my organization. It has been a blast to work directly with customers and close deals. Soon I’ll replace the headcount and spend more time managing again, but for now I’m loving the challenges associated with carrying a bag. One of the things that has been particularly eye opening to me is how reluctant sales people are to say “No” to a customer. As a sales leader, I am often called upon to escalate issues only to find out that the customer was given unrealistic expectations, or they just could have simply been told “No”.
Don’t get me wrong! Many times you, the sales rep, are the only person advocating passionately for the customer. Too often organizations put up seemingly unnecessary hurdles that get in the way of your customer’s success. Your customer advocacy is often times the difference between keeping and losing a customer. However, there are those times when you can save everyone some time and trouble by simply taking the side of your company and telling the customer “No”.
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What are you waiting for? Those deals won’t wake up on their own!
In one scenario, I was working to close a deal with a very large company. We had sent them agreements in late April and we finally got their red-lines back in late June. They were anxious to get things moving due to their internal deadlines and wanted to have a discussion with legal right away. We submitted the documents to legal to find out that the attorney who reviews these particular documents was away on a family emergency. Instead of turning-around the documents in five business days, it looked like it could take about seven business days. The customer was not happy.
I got a call from them stating their dissatisfaction with our slow legal process. It looked like the delay could possibly cause the project to slip creating some potential problems for them. They wanted me to escalate the issue and get the documents back to them much quicker. That was an understandable position for them to take. As a rep, how would you have handled the situation? Would you have asked your manager to escalate? Maybe call legal and ask them to prioritize your deal ahead of others? Send emails all over the organization talking about how “Sales Prevention” was screwing up your deal? Here’s how I handled it.
I called the customer and told them this, “I understand your frustration with the delay in our legal group and I will do what I can to get the agreements out to you sooner. However, as things look now, we will deliver the red-lines back to you in fewer business days than it took you weeks to get them back to us. The organization has a very disciplined approach to resource allocation and will not commit resources to this opportunity until the agreements are signed. So while I am not happy with our internal delay, it would have been helpful to have received the documents several weeks ago. That said, this is a large deal for you and for us. I am in lock-step with you trying to get this done and you have my commitment that we will work hard to make that happen.” I never heard another complaint from the customer.
In another scenario, I closed an annual agreement with a customer (again a very large company) that was a usage based arrangement with monthly minimum payments regardless of their usage. The agreement started August 1st and we allocated resources to get them up and running. Things were going well and the customer was happy. Then I got an email from them stating that there would be a delay in their “go live” date but that they would like to continue the implementation so that they could be 100% ready on that date. But, they didn’t want to pay anything until they went live on the product.
As a rep, how would you have handled this situation? Would you have asked your manager to get involved with accounting to stop the invoicing? Would you be seeking a credit for the monthly minimum once it was billed? Here’s how I handled it.
The first few communications were via email, and I could tell it wasn’t going well, so I picked up the phone (read my blog on this, “(PUTDP) Pick up the Damn Phone”) and called. After some initial pleasantries, I let the customer know that I was calling about the project and letting them know that they would be billed regardless of when the project started. “Really, that doesn’t make sense to me. Why would that be the case when we haven’t started to use the product?” was her response. I let her know that the monthly minimum was to cover our cost associated with implementing their solution. As far as we were concerned, they could go-live any time in the year, but that we would charge them the monthly minimum regardless. I got a little push back but at the end of the conversation, she understood our position and didn’t disagree with our stance.
Pushing back a little on customers is not a bad thing, as long as you are taking a position that won’t jeopardize the deal or create acrimony in the relationship. It is your responsibility to close deals, but not at expense of your organization. When reps bow to every customer whim they lose credibility and will get abused. When you stand up for yourself and your organization you gain credibility with your customer, your boss and your company. Then, when you need your organization to step up and make an exception, you have qualified yourself as a stand-up rep, and not someone who constantly cries “Wolf!” When you do make a request to expedite a situation it more likely be heard and acted upon.
Saying “No” is never easy, but is often the right thing to do.
