The phone rings, you spend 30 minutes talking to the person enquiring about your product or service, great you think. You set up an appointment to meet – even better. You spend an hour or more putting together a proposal or quote and send it off thinking you are in with a good chance of winning the work because the meeting went so well and the prospect seemed so engaged….
A week later you follow up – strange you thought you’d have head by now – they seemed so keen to get things going when you met with them. The person you need to speak to is in a meeting – you leave a message and send an email.
You phone again because your messages have not been responded to. Finally you get through to the person and they again tell you that yes things are proceeding and that there are just a few things to do before they make any decisions about your quote.
So you give it another week and try again, same story, you start to get despondent, you soon realise that this is going nowhere fast and that it’s the same old story playing out time after time.
So here’s a novel concept for the tyre kickers of the world:
If you are seriously looking for a product or a service – look for it when you are ready and the big decisions have been made and you have a budget to play with.
If someone takes time to speak with you, meet with you and send you a comprehensive quote acknowledge it with a friendly thank you email and that you will be back to them within a set timeframe and stick to it.
If you are the service or product supplier
Make sure you talk budget before you spend time at a meeting – you need to know these people have the financial backing to purchase from you and are not just bleeding you dry of information for comparisons. You also want to be the right choice for the prospect – there is little point in selling a $5000 item to someone who has $500.
Make sure you know exactly what the client wants and who they are before you go to any meeting – research their website as if you talk their language you are more likely to convert. I send out New Client Questionnaires – it makes the first meeting so much more valuable for both parties.
In the meeting respond to their body language by mirroring it – if you are “the same” as them they will feel much more comfortable with you.
Tell them in the meeting that you will be following up and set a deadline for a final response and make sure you diarise to do it – then do it, people like it when you stick to your word.
Imagine a streamlined business world where people asked for something and they got it, on time, to budget and they didn’t have to chase their tail to get a simple yes or no answer.
In summary
Whether you are a Consumer or a Supplier – be kind to your fellow business people, realise that their time is just as precious as yours. Be grateful for their time and ensure you verbalize your thanks. If you know you are not going to buy from the supplier – tell them as soon as you know and there will be a much more productive work force in place across the board. It’s a simple concept but a vital one to ensuring that our businesses and our economy thrive. So start helping to make the business wheel turn and stop pulling out spokes along the way and slowing down progress.
