“Communication is key. Don’t be afraid of conversations because you need to understand what’s going on with your buyers and it’s totally cool to share with them once going on on your end. ” – Scott Ingram in today’s Tip 1093
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Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. I was originally going to title this tip: “We need sales professionals and we need them to do their job” based on a recent buying experience I had, but I think “Buyers wanna buy,” is maybe an even better title.
So at the tail end of last year, I was finishing up a deal as a B2B buyer, and it’s always interesting to be on the other side of the table. Without calling anybody out, this is a deal that had been in the works for months. We were working through the last couple minor little pieces the last week of the year and I thought we were all set to execute the agreement on December 30th.
But there was some type of miscommunication or disconnect late that morning and I never got the agreement. After coming off of a series of wall-to-wall calls that afternoon the seller sent a somewhat pissy note just a few minutes at 5 pm about not being able to get the deal done, and then literally disappeared until the first week of January.
There were so many sales lessons from this. The first and most important is about communication. Email and text are great, but sometimes you just need to pick up the phone and talk. Things often get misconstrued or misinterpreted when we’re all moving 1,000 mph.
It’s also critically important to stay committed and work to understand what’s going on with the buyer. I can’t tell you how frustrated I was to not be able to get in touch with this rep after 5 pm, and last I checked December 30th isn’t the last day of the year. We had a whole additional day to work with and I couldn’t get any type of response, because here’s what was going on on my end. I needed to spend this money! Not getting this deal done until the first week of January is going to cost me thousands of dollars in taxes. But the seller didn’t know that. They were only worried about their deadlines, which apparently were 5 pm on December 30th, which was news to me.
So clearly I’m a little frustrated here and wanted to vent, but again it’s incumbent upon us to bring the professional into sales professional. Communication is key. Don’t be afraid of conversations because you need to understand what’s going on with your buyers and it’s totally cool to share with them once going on on your end. Timing can be critical to one or both parties and it’s important to understand and communicate why. Sometimes you need to go a little deeper and understand the why behind the why as well.
Finally, if it’s the end of the month, the end of the quarter, or the end of the year, either for you or for your client. Expect that you’re going to need to stick around. It might mean that you need to make yourself available in the evening or over the weekend. It’s just part of the job. Expect it, plan for it, and set those expectations with your friends and family.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d better go sell some stuff, because my tax bill is going to be bigger than I’d like in a couple of months.
Hey thanks for listening to today’s rant, I mean TIP, and be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip.