Call high early in the sales process or risk losing the sale
Posted by Geoff Alexander on Fri, Aug 29, 2008 @ 01:56 AM
I got a call this morning from an inside sales rep seeking advice on a sale she was afraid she might lose. And she might, too, because she didn't begin by calling high. Here's the story, and a recommendation on what you can do to avoid the problem she's run into.
Claire sells educational software, and a couple of months ago, received an inbound lead from a librarian, asking for a quote. The librarian is part of a university system, doesn't have much discretionary budget, but knows she needs the product. Claire dutifully provided a quote, and wants to upsell the librarian to a multi-year contract, not just the one year that the librarian wants. Because territories are shifting, Claire needs to get the deal in before 30 days, or she doesn't get commissioned on anything. She's offered a great discount on the multiyear deal, but the librarian tells her there's not enough money in the budget, and she'll have to discuss it with others. The librarian wouldn't tell her who "the others" were, and Claire doesn't want to go over her head. What went wrong here? How can she ensure this won't happen again with the next client? And how can she save the sale now?
What went wrong? Claire didn't start the sales process by calling high. High in this case means Chancellor, Provost, or President. Although she started with an inbound lead from the librarian, she shouldn't have started there. She should have called the Provost first, mentioning that there appeared to be some interest at the university, and asked if there was an initiative to buy a solution such as the one Claire was offering. Yes or no, it would have prompted a discussion. Claire's second call might have been back to the Provost, to someone else he or she recommended, or to the librarian. If she had begun with the Provost, Claire would have already made a contact at the approval level within the university. That way, when the librarian didn't have the budget for five years, Claire could have said "that's OK, I've already talked to the Provost. I'll call her back and see if we can get some budget freed."
Getting back to Claire's dilemma, why doesn't she want to go over the librarian's head at this point in the sale? This is a psychological barrier that most reps deal with until they realize that calling high initially is the only way out of it. Claire feels --- right or wrong --- that she'll offend the librarian completely by going over her head, and will lose the entire deal. She's stuck. Since she didn't call high initially, how can we unstick her?
One approach is to cold call the Provost now anyway, and without revealing that she's already in discussions, and ask if her product is something that's on the Provost's radar screen. Yes or no, she can discuss her solution. If interested, the Provost may very well refer her to someone else in the university that makes decisions on these products. It may or may not be the librarian. If the Provost isn't interested, then Claire might mention that she's had some discussions with the librarian already, and that she's trying to give a great discount for a five-year commitment, but hasn't been able to get the approval yet. She can then ask for the Provost's recommended next step. The Provost is going to have to sign off on it anyway, if it's accepted, so it's a great idea to present it now. If, in the worst case scenario, the librarian finds out that Claire has talked with the Provost and is upset, Claire can tell her "I wasn't going over your head. It's part of my process to talk with every Provost at all of my schools anyway, so this is just part of what I do every day." But of course, if Claire had started high, then it would have been a moot point.
Claire has already done something well, by the way, in terms of her closing skills. She provided a 20 day "drop dead" date for the discount, in which the special pricing will go away if a PO hasn't been signed in 20 days. She's got a great reason to call the Provost, because she's trying to save the university a significant amount of money. That's compelling.
We've all been in Claire's position, especially early in our sales careers. I spend a lot of time in my inside sales courses discussing why you really must start each sales process by calling as high as possible. I make people do it in actual coaching sessions, too. Telesales reps are always delighted when I show them how easy it really is, and they can do it themselves easily. Most high-level execs are friendly and easy to talk to, once they know why you're calling, and how it will benefit them. She didn't know it, but Claire's still ideally suited to make that exec call now, even though she's later in the sales process. But she might have closed the deal two months ago if she'd started the interaction with the university by calling high.
Calling high initially will always get you the sale faster, and might get you more revenue too, because you can grow the deal up there. I guarantee that you (and Claire) will increase sales dramatically by calling high early. Add it to your best practices notebook.