A friend of mine, whose company does a lot of work for state governments, just had an invoice short-paid by over $50,000. The money earmarked for his services simply wasn’t there anymore.
Even a contract (and work done as part of that contract) is no guarantee of cash in the door. And when you’re selling, things are even less predictable.
Let’s assume for a moment that you are trying to sell a deal that has a strong value basis, where your solution is a great fit for the need, a budget has been defined, your references are perfectly aligned and you have a good base of support at the client for your solution.
Let’s finally assume that… there is no competitor involved in the deal.
Sounds like a fantasy, doesn’t it? Well, sorry to bum you out, but even in this fantastic example there are still many ways the deal can fail to happen, and you need to be aware of them.
1. The budget disappears. Monies allocated at the beginning of the year can be yanked away in an instant.
2. Priorities shift. Every company has more it wants to do than it has capital or human resource to take on. If your project gets deprioritized, your sure win evaporates.
3. The last signature on the approval doesn’t happen. While it’s great to call high, it’s not always possible, especially in big organizations. And companies are requiring higher and higher executive signoff on contracts. Meaning your project is hostage to the priorities, even moods, of an executive you may have never met.
4. Merger/restructuring. This effect is a combination of the above three. I’ve never seen a merger that helped a deal happen in the short run.
You knew all these already. But it’s worth reminding yourself of the many ways a deal can go sideways. Otherwise, in times like these, when all these situations occur with great frequency, the “uncontrollable” losses will demoralize you and prevent you from doing what you need to do to combat them–getting more leads.
[I'm sure I'm missing some important situations in the list above. If you have more to add, please put them in the comments.]
Related post:
Selling today: casting a wide net and “going for the ‘no’”
