

Big customers that won't close - Swannie
http://swombat.com/2011/3/10/big-customers-that-wont-close

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icey
Handle these sales in an asynchronous fashion. Just because it feels like it's
taking forever _to you_ doesn't mean there isn't progress being made.

The unfortunate thing is that you may have the sale completely clinched or you
may have already lost it and you might not know for months or longer. All you
can do is touch base with your contact occasionally, and let them know you're
there if they need you.

You can also try to offer to help the sales process for them. Sometimes that
works well if the hangup is at the executive level. Offer to send them some
plain-English case studies about how your product (makes / saves) money for
them. Spell out what the expected ROI is, etc...

The other side of this coin that's worth mentioning: Sometimes the big
customers that won't close just aren't worth the effort. They will always be
slow moving. They will always consume much more of your time than a smaller
company will.

If your company culture value agility, perhaps you should just decide that the
sale isn't a good cultural fit and spend more of your time focusing on
customers that are a better fit.

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manoloe
Besides just size, you need to look at the industry and calendar cycle.

For example, if it's retail/ecommerce, many of those decisions need to be done
early in the year so that they can be implemented in time for Q3, and
perfected for Q4. Approaching them in Q2 will often mean you need to wait 10
months.

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edw519
_Six months later, things are still sounding great and not happening. What's
going on?_

It could be that nothing unusual is going on. A six+ month buying cycle for
anything over 4 figures is normal. Whenever selling to an enterprise, you
should ask your contact:

    
    
      1.  Who is the champion?
      2.  Who is the decision maker?
      3.  What is the process for each tier?
      4.  What should we do the best ensure our mutual success?
    

The only reason for surprises in the sales cycle is if you didn't bother to
ask.

It someone sold a cure for cancer for $1000, everyone would buy it and the
world would be healed.

If it cost $10,000, you'd probably have to await corporate paperwork and
approval for 6 months and only then start implementation.

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stuff4ben
heh I work for a big corporation, 70K+ employees, and I see us doing that to
other companies all the time. I feel bad for those startups trying to get
their software in here, but I'm only a small cog in a huge wheel (for now
anyways).

