At every sales meeting there is always one salesperson, sometimes more, who shows up with the same game plan for the week.  Sadly, it is often the same game plan week after week. Usually, the dialogue goes something like this:

“I am going to meet with Mr. Prospect and pick-up that order I have been working on for the last three months.  He told me to check with him again this week.”

There are a multitude of reasons why this salesperson is still chasing this deal.  Unfortunately, he is chasing an order  that is probably not coming.  Here are the Top Ten Reasons Why That Long Awaited Order Is Not Coming!

10. Your prospect has your best proposal.  They are not done shopping it around with the competitors yet.

9. Just because the customer said “yes” when you asked if you could provide  a proposal does not mean they were looking to make any changes in suppliers.

8. You told them you could save them money.  Unfortunately, that was not their interest or need.  Worse, you didn’t really save them any money.

7. The person you delivered the quote to was not the decision maker.  And, their boss, the one who is, hates your company.

6. There was no budget for this program.  However, they needed some numbers to put it into next year’s budget.

5. The project was not approved in next year’s business plan.  You are really out of luck now!

4. You remember that person at the presentation who didn’t say much, was kind of weird, and you ignored most of the time?  The final decision was theirs.  You did not get that vote!

3. Your prospect cannot figure out how your solution really addresses what they were looking for.

2. You are so busy trying to get a status update on the order that you don’t realize they said “no” to you three sales calls ago.

1. They stopped taking your calls because no one wants to hear “just checking to see where you are with the order” every week.

The path to closing business opportunities starts with relationship building behaviors, effective qualifying tactics, and solutions oriented discussions.  Before any proposals or quotes are completed the scope, decision makers, decision making process, timing, budget, and probable solutions are all very well defined.  Done properly, a proposal is a formality or an agreement.  Chasing down an order weeks after providing a quote reflects that the preliminary and effective sales work was not effectively completed.  Obtaining orders with those types of behaviors are low percentage deals.  You are probably out of luck.  Move on and work the next opportunity better.