A while back, I was doing some initial consultations with a client that does custom machined parts for industry. The salesperson is the outside relationship manager, and they have an internal sales team that handles the order process. When I was doing my discovery, I found that they were having huge problems getting orders and quotes through the system, and that it was taking up an inordinate amount of time. The reason was that they weren’t good at getting the information needed to process quotes and orders.
I checked, and they had a quote form that had spots for all critical quoting information, and a supplementary form that included other needed data to actually make the parts. The problem was that they were struggling to get accurate quote information (things like material, dimensions, tolerances, etc.), and that was flowing through to order fulfillment. Meanwhile, sales was screaming at the inside salespeople to get them their quotes FAST – but the inside sales was screaming back that they didn’t have all the information needed. What a mess! But the problem was cleared up when I talked to a senior salesperson. He told me something that left bruises from my jaw hitting the table.
“Well,” he said, “once we get the request for the quote, we don’t ask any more questions. We’re trained not to. We get out of there before the customer can change his mind.”
By my stunned, open-mouthed silence, he surmised that I was shocked by this.
“So, explain to me,” I said, “You leave with a request for a quote, but not knowing what it is that you’re quoting?”
“Yeah,” he said, “We find out later. Don’t you know that you’re not supposed to talk past the sale?” The conversation got worse from there. But upon further reflection, I’ve seen this sales method before. I should point out that these salespeople were NOT trained by me.
One of the old sayings of sales – which is still a good one, when you interpret it correctly – is, “Don’t talk past the sale.” What this means is that, after the customer says “yes,” (either to a quote or to an order), don’t keep babbling and re-selling. But it doesn’t mean that you have to get the hell out of the customer’s sight immediately.
What your customer is expecting is that you will now become their caretaker and facilitator. That doesn’t mean that you won’t rely on internal staff to assist in their functions, but it does mean that you’ll be a professional and do what you can.
In this case, what customers were likely expecting is that the salesperson would shift gears, express an appreciation for the opportunity, and then begin acquiring the info that the inside salespeople would need in order to generate an accurate quote. Instead, the salesperson was going back in and telling the inside sales staff that he needed a quote on, say, an aluminum pulley, approximately 4 inches in diameter and 1 inch wide, with a V-belt groove. Trust me when I say that there are MANY more pieces of information needed to generate a quote that’s accurate (to make sure that the product functions), competitive (to assist in getting the business), and profitable for the company.
Instead, it was a Chinese fire drill getting quotes out, with significant wasted time for everyone and heated tempers involved. That’s dumb.
So, why do salespeople sell this way? I can think of three reasons:
- The salesperson is scared to death that, if they ask the questions that I like to call “Order taking questions,” the customer will rethink the deal and take it back. That’s nonsense. Asking the right order taking questions is just basic professionalism, and actually reassures your customers that you know what the hell is going on and that they are in good hands. Ultimately, this fear is that you haven’t properly sold your customer – and that’s on you.
- Sometimes, salespeople want to do the absolute minimum of effort before moving on to the next deal (or to Happy Hour). So they do a half-assed job of getting the details down, and usually end up with significant errors in the quoting process (bad) or the production process (way worse).
- Bad training. As I noted above, the salespeople didn’t come up with this approach on their own – they just didn’t let their common sense override their sales training (which probably indicates some level of #1 or #2 above).
By the way, I’m lumping a sale and a quote into the same process, because many times, it is the same process – and even when it’s not, a similar dynamic happens in the sales conversation.
So, how should you handle this situation? First of all, understand that by either requesting a proposal, or placing an order, your customer has made a significant commitment to you in advancing the Buyer’s Journey. It’s your job to navigate the customer through this process. Here are three strategies for how to handle this moment.
- Get the info right then. Your customer’s motivation to give you the right information to help you get the quote, or fulfill the sale, is highest at the moment that they say “yes.” Just have a checklist, pull it out, and use it.
- Set a time for the information to get to you. Sometimes, the customer will need to gather the information. That’s fine. Set a deadline, and let the customer know what your turnaround time will be from the moment you receive the info. That’s being a good guide and advisor.
- “I’ll have my people call your people.” It’s common that the decision make isn’t necessarily the person who will handle the technical details of fulfillment – they may have support staff to do it, just as you do. At this moment, you can either ask your customer to connect you with the support staff, or you can connect your support staff with their staff. Again, a timeline is important, and it’s vital that you communicate – in advance – what that timeline will be.
Ultimately, your best strategy for handling this moment is this: Act like you’ve been there before. The “get outta there” approach speaks to a lack of confidence and expertise on your part, and makes the customer think that you’re inexperienced and/or incapable of handling their needs. This can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, as well as wasting a lot of time, effort, and relationship capital with your own people. Be a professional, and you’ll sell more and everyone will be much happier.
