The Benefits of Withdrawing from Deals that Aren't Going to be Won Are Enormous
We’ve all been there: you chase a deal for 12-18 months only to discover that you lost. The real question is “When did you realize that you lost?” What were the clues (e.g., the customer refused to provide executive access, the customer didn’t allow you to demo last, etc.) and why did you ignore them?
The practical reality is that in many cases, the outcome of the vendor selection is determined before the competitive sales cycle has even begun. For example, responding to an RFP that you did not participate in its authoring is a definite losing proposition. Everyone knows this, but too many sales reps respond anyway with the hope that they can beat a rigged sales cycle.
Why do sales reps participate in deals in which they don’t have a reasonable chance of winning? The answer is obvious; primarily, sales reps arrogantly believe that they are so masterful at their craft that they can overcome even the most obvious indications from the customer that the deal outcome has been pre-determined. Secondarily, they need pipeline and they can’t bear to walk away from any opportunities of scale.
Sometimes these clues that you’ve lost occur at or near the beginning (the RFP example) and sometimes they happen later in the sales cycle (the customer won’t let you demo last). Regardless of when these signals that suggest you are not going to win occur, you have to react decisively and withdraw from consideration.
But does the customer want you to walk away from the opportunity? Of course not . . . the customer needs multiple vendors to stay in the game in order to ensure that the decision process appears fair for all vendors. If all but the predetermined winner withdrew from consideration, senior management might be suspicious of a rigged evaluation and declare a sales “mistrial” with no winner at all.
So the customer needs multiple vendors competing for the business and each vendor believes that they can overcome these obvious signals and win anyway; this confluence of factors provides the appearance of an objective evaluation even when one doesn’t exist.
A seasoned and disciplined sales rep withdraws from opportunities the minute he/she realizes the deal is wired for a different vendor. Whether it is at the beginning of the cycle or much later in the process, don’t forget that every minute a sales rep spends on a deal wired for another vendor is a minute that rep isn’t looking for deals he/she can win.
From a financial vantage point, the benefits of withdrawing from deals that aren’t going to be won are enormous, so it is critical to avoid this opportunity cost and focus on the winnable ones.
The moral of the story is that the vendor with the best product does not always win and it’s easy for the vendor with the best product to chase every deal regardless of the clues to the contrary. If your sales team struggles to recognize when a deal is predetermined against them, email dave@moicpartners.com for assistance. Leverage Pipeline Grader to ensure your pipeline is filled with only the most viable deals.
