I don’t know about you but this did happen so many times to me. You come out of a meeting, you feel connected to the stakeholder, there is strong indication that you have done it. You feel you nailed it. You think this is an opportunity won.
A few days later you give a call to your stakeholder and you are ready to suggest sending a contract to them. And this is when you are hit by an electric shock. The client says that the project needs to wait.
When you discuss the reasons of the delay, the truth is revealed. So many people were left outside from the discussions and so many processes were not followed.
Rule not to forget. Each organisation has its own buying process that must be followed.
This depends on the industry, the size of the organisation, the regulatory space in the industry and the country, the corporate governance rules of the company. In many cases, besides the business people one is talking to during the sales process, there are others that should/would be involved. Technology teams for example may need to sign off a technological project, project teams might need to tick several boxes and make sure the new service/product can be integrated smoothly to the company’s processes. Decision makers need also to understand how a service fits to the overall goals and governance of the company. In the same time buying a piece of service for a firm may not be a straightforward process as we believe. Certain organisations may have strict procurement rules with certain guidelines that must be adhered to. In many other cases a company requires to go to the market with a tender offer to potential vendors (issuing RFPs) before buying from one. Depending also from the budget level required for a project, different processes are in place, making sure the finance team has the budget for it; hence in some cases they also need to sign a project off.
Overall, one needs to understand that running a sales opportunity is not a simple and straightforward process in some cases. But it can be done. It is a nice journey but one needs to understand the process and needs to stay patient and committed.
Reach out if you want to discuss this topic further.
Happy selling.