The first question in your mind should be “what do I need to learn” and/or “what am I missing”. This, many times, will reveal what you need to find out about key areas including:
- Timeline and Timing
- Funding
- Decision Process
Timeline and Timing
Customers usually have a timeline in mind…when they want to the solution implemented. Their timeline should give you some feel for how much of a priority your project is. If they do not have a timeline, this may be a sign that the opportunity is not yet real.
Remember, customers have other projects they are juggling. Priorities are changing rapidly. Their “bandwidth” to pay attention to another project may be a challenge.
Funding
It may have nothing to do with your total price…how have your structured billing for your project? How has the customer approached budgeting for this project?
Decision Process
How well do you understand every step in the process including players, criteria and timeline? Has the process changed recently to include additional players and/or organizations (e.g. your customer’s other partners)?
Recent Success Story
Emily Zaccardi, is the Founder and CEO of hollarhype, providing a unique real-time voice engagement solution that unifies organizations. Emily approached a large charitable organization several months ago about leveraging hollarhype. She invested time in building rapport and trust with key contacts. Despite getting a “no thank you”, she stayed with it. In her follow up meetings, she identified that the organization had another partner with a solution they were considering. Emily’s work to “reframe” the value of hollarhype helped her key contacts with internal discussions and eventually closing a deal. Her patience and focus on asking questions so she could understand the customer’s process played a huge role in her success!
Do not Drop your Pricing
Notice I did not mention to drop your pricing? It undermines your hard work to establish the value of your solution. The more you learn about what you might have been missing, the better positioned you are to establish the value of your solution.
Feel free to contact me directly for ideas and/or help on this or other topics!
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