Sometimes, Timing is Everything

Have you ever been on one of those Sales Calls where you were just "In the Zone"? Nothing could go wrong, no objection was to difficult, the right people were present, your presentation was perfect and the deal just kept getting bigger?

I was "In the Zone"! The room was full and there were more on the conference line from around the globe. We all shook hands and agreed to the follow up actions items (most of them were mine). I thought we had just landed one of the largest accounts in the Mountain States.

I went back to the (home) office and proceeded to make calls and bang out emails attaching reference customer contact info and setting up a test plan that just could not fail. I sent out White Papers and Case Studies. After all that work I put in a follow up call and sent a thank you card.

Days and then weeks went by with almost no response from this key account. When I finally made contact I got the cold-shoulder treatment and was told that they were just too busy with other projects right now and would not be able to take a look at my product until next year. :(

What a let down! A complete Crash and Burn! I had been sidelined, benched and then asked to leave the stadium.

I occasionally shot a note over and called the prospect, but never got more than a one sentence reply that he still did not have time to take another look.

Last week...the next year mark, I began the full-court press again, calling on key partners and contacts to get me back in to that key account. Success! We had a meeting. The partner however, kept warning me that the reception was going to be luke-warm at best and perhaps even frigid. I expected the worst.

When we arrived, we were escorted to a medium sized conference room and told to sit tight. There were 2-3 people already in the room. As we got settled, a few more showed up, then more and finally we ran out of chairs. We were asked to recap what we had discussed last time and give a basic overview of our solution for the new people. As soon as we got in to the meat of the presentation, more people filed in and we had standing room only. Questions were flying and we were challenged on a few statements asking for more information. The pace was fast and furious with people from all relevant areas of the company present. Along the way we figured out that the customer's pain had reached critical mass and timing was much better than last time. It had suddenly moved up the priority list of things to address.

I have since followed up as I always do with a definite plan and plan on making the call today to make sure we are still on track. More to follow........

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

I just had to share a recent conspiracy against me by my own internal management and partner team. Hopefully, you will either laugh hysterically (you sick and twisted freaks) or feel my pain.

We'd been working closely with a reseller to win over a large technology expansion for an existing customer. My relationship was not as strong as it should have been and I relied heavily on the reseller's relationship for updates, appointments and the final sale. We had been working closely wit them for over 6 months to try and overcome, technical, budgetary and relationship challenges. Along the way, the customer threatened to look elsewhere for a solution.

After 6 months of angst we drew near the end of a critical quarter of selling. I really wanted and needed the deal to meet some personal goals. The entire Executive Staff in my organization was involved ad pushing hard to win the deal and get it off the street. Customers communication was sporadic and always filtered through the reseller. I struggled to get an accurate idea of the customer's temperature and decision process. One day, we had the deal and the purchase order was being processed and the next, the CIO in Canada was asking them to revisit their choice in vendors. I was then assured that the PO was being cut and issued.

Three day before the appointed deadline, I received the dreaded email from my Area VP. "We've lost the deal! They've gone another direction!" As you can imagine, my heart dropped into my shorts. Within 2 minutes, I received another email from the reseller with the same message. I was now in a complete panic and my ire was rising against the customer and the reseller. I began to make desperate phone calls and send terse emails. No one would answer my inquiries. I felt like a pariah.

After a 2 hour panic, I get a voice-mail from the reseller. In it he admits to being in cahoots with the Area VP and playing a cruel joke on me and my associates...

Through this enlightening experience, I learned something. Don't rely on your resellers to maintain the only relationship with the customer. Be able to laugh at myself for my own reaction. Develop my own paths of communication and stay involved. And finally, find an excuse to be in touch with every customer.