I was simply an observer, and I’ve never had to use more effort in my life than that afternoon when I had to force myself to stay silent. There we were, a sales person I was coaching, his prospective client, and me. My job was to observe and coach – that was it. He was doing a great job and even asked for the order in a very straight forward, friendly manner. His prospect said yes – “Sure, I feel pretty comfortable after this demo.” That’s when it happened. That’s when I almost came out of my skin and tackled this sales person.
As his future client was reviewing the contract and warming up his signing hand, he told the client: “You’ve made a great decision. After next week, our lead times get crazy.” His customer looked up through the tops of his eyelids and asked: “What do you mean? Are you short staffed? What happens after next week? You’ve stated that this project will take four weeks to install. I don’t want to get interrupted in the middle of an install.” After some back and forth, the prospect demanded: “Before I sign this, I want to talk with the project manager to get some reassurance.”
What? How did that happen? In about ten seconds he went from getting a signature to being delayed and possible denied. What happened? He said the very worst thing a sales person could say…
The very worst thing a sales person can say is anything at all after the customer says “yes”. Once they approve your proposal, shut up, get their signature, and get the heck out of there. Don’t say a word. Sales people – even the seasoned ones – make this mistake every day. Once the customer says “yes”, there is no more you can do. They can’t say “yes plus” – there’s only yes or no. Once you get the yes, get out of there before they change their mind.
Have you ever done this? I have. Not in a long time, but I’ve tried to validate my prospect’s decision like my pupil referenced above, and lost a sale.
