Shiny Objects
Been thinking a lot about getting the house ready for the holidays. The ornaments - the shiny objects in my house, will be going up soon (likely the same at your house), and makes me think about the press for year-end many of us are under.
Are you “Black Friday” pricing your deals?
Are you hanging incentives to sign out there for your deals?
Are these shiny objects distracting you and your prospect?
In many cases, we spend months building out and ROI/TCO case, only to have it thrown away in order to meet a quarterly/monthly target. We depreciate price, costing commission, ARR, bookings, and honestly - often our credibility.
We often do this at the heels of what’s otherwise been a truly consultative sales process.
So, what are we to do? We need to the booking to hit target, quota - but there has to be a better way.
Here are some steps:
1.) Don’t intro an incentive or discount without agreement on price and date to sign. This is obvious but you’d be surprised how these shiny objects simply get thrown out there.
2.) Don’t put it in email. The risk of it being lost in the year-end shuffle on their side to too high - and frankly the offer you may be extending is far too important to be sent to an inbox.
3.) Instead of discount, focus on the incentive. My first step is usually the reverse of many. I ask them to sign at the agreed upon price on a certain date, as professional courtesy to myself and the overall relationship. I make this ask over the phone to both the champion and exec sponsor/signer.
4.) Have your delivery team (or servicing/product team) reach out to enforce the importance of the date, and the ability for the firm to link that signature date with an immediate deliverable (onboarding call, product sprint with a need for them, etc.)
5.) Re-affirm why they are buying and what problems they solve.
6.) Outline ‘realistic’ risks of not signing by the date - ex. if the price doesn’t actually “expire” then DON’T WRITE THAT!
7.) Wait - assuming you’re doing this on the phone - you’ve outlined the case. Hold, hold, hold – it’s their turn to respond.
8.) If not enough, ask them what moves the needle on their side. Don’t give something away you don’t need to. If they offer something other than discount - hold, reiterate the above, and then lock it in.
Now look I’ve been there. If you aren’t getting anything back, can’t “wait”, then now is the time to present the shiny object.
Ideally - we aren’t here - but here we are anyway. So let’s make the most of it!
1.) Everything you said already holds true.
2.) You are offering this to make a meaningful gesture to the relationship.
3.) You need a response on this moving the deal relative to the agreed upon date, by X days. Use this instead of expiration. This way you aren’t extending goodwill without the ability to execute on the date. DO NOT tie this to the signature date.
4.) If this doesn’t move the needle, you expect them to counter - establish that you won’t negotiate against yourself and your firm.
If your here - odds are you’re going to close it. Bad news - you also need to go back and get another approval. It’s better than not closing the deal. Nonetheless, beware of shiny objects this next month, without something solid to hang them on.
P.S. One lever I love is that anytime you propose price or a signature date, you attach a relatively small, but significant percentage increase on the agreement if dates are missed. This gives you a reason to follow up/check in as its truly in the client/prospect interest to make decisions and align to these dates.
