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What Do I Do If My Sale Won’t Close and I'm Experiencing Delays?

What Do I Do If My Sale Won’t Close and I'm Experiencing Delays?

SalesSales & MarketingLegacy

Your customer said he was interested in buying from you and now you’re experiencing delays. What do you do when your sale won't close? Here’s how you can restart your sales process and ideally get the sale. 

Polite persistence. Your prospect told you he would get back with you in a week. A week goes by and there’s no response. What do you do? Contact your prospect no more than once a week. Caller ID is not your friend. All people have to do is see your name come up too many times and they’ll never want to speak with you.

Assume innocence. You may not reach your prospect when you call. You should leave a message that is strategic. It must allow your prospect to save face for not calling. You give them a plausible reason for the delay.

You could say, “I know this is a busy time for you and you said we would speak last Monday.” Above all, you must assume you still have the sale. Continue with, “I’m excited to work with you to address (the problem you identified.) Then make it easy for both of you to make contact with each other. Add, “Would you leave a few times that work for you so we can speak? If it’s easier for you, my email is …” That kind of message is persuasive because it refers back to something they promised to do and gives them permission for the delay.

If price is an issue. What happens when your customer does finally respond with “We’re interested, but your price is too high”? Do you lower your price? I hope not.

Price is never the issue when customers say it is. Instead, it’s the perception that the value of the product or service isn’t worth the price.

Instead of lowering your price, determine what the prospect can do without so your price appears lower. Ask your prospects which parts of your product or service features you can eliminate so you work within their budget. Make sure you allow them time to consider this so you might want to call back in a few days. During that time, they just might decide that they want everything and the price is now justified.

You may get frustrated when your sale won’t close. Don’t stop because you still have more selling to do. Yogi Berra may have been thinking of selling when he said, “It ain't over 'til it's over.”

Profile: Maura Schreier-Fleming

Maura Schreier-Fleming is president of Best@Selling, a sales training and sales consulting company. She works with business and sales professionals to increase sales and earn larger profits. She is the author of Real-World Selling for Out-of-this-World Results and Monday Morning Sales Tips. Maura focuses on sales strategies and tactics that lead to better sales results. Maura is a sales expert for WomenSalesPros. She is part of their group of top sales experts who inspire, educate, and develop salespeople and sales teams.She speaks internationally on influence, selling skills, and strategic selling at trade association and sales meetings, demonstrating how her principles can be applied to get results. She successfully worked for over 20 years in the male-dominated oil industry with two major corporations, beginning at Mobil Oil and ending at Chevron Corp. She was Mobil Oil’s first female lubrication engineer in the U.S. and was one of Chevron’s top five salespeople in the U.S. having sold over $9 million annually. Maura writes several columns to share her sales philosophies. She's been quoted in the New York Times, Selling Power, and Entrepreneur.