By Jim Lewis

It's the middle of the month and you are sitting at your desk reviewing the preliminary monthly sales forecasts submitted to you by your sales representatives. You notice that one prospect's name keeps appearing on the list month after month, forecast to close, but never closing. Your company has put a lot of time and expense into selling this account. This is the same prospect that you authorized the multiple 'four legged' sales calls, prototyped the 'must have, or we won't buy' reports and hosted for a full day at your corporate headquarters. What's the problem?

You decide to call your sales representative to determine what else needs to be done to insure that this prospect finally closes this month, as forecast. He informs you that he has just spoken with the prospect and that they still haven't made a decision. They've asked him to give them a call in about three months. Check off another opportunity lost to “No Decision.”

Sound familiar? You're not alone. Our research shows that between 60% and 80% of all losses are due to “No Decision.” That's more losses to “No Decision” than to any single competitor, making “No Decision, Inc.” your #1 competitor!

Why do your prospects elect to do nothing, despite the best efforts of yourself and your sales representatives? There are four major reasons:

1. No Goal
Despite what some salespeople may think, executives don't authorize the spending of large sums of money just to be the proud owners of your stuff. We use the term pain to describe the critical business or personal issue that has prompted the buyer to search for a solution and initiate the buy cycle. They have a goal; they want to fix the problem. We have a saying, “No goal, no prospect.” At the very minimum, a prospect must be unhappy with some aspect of their business and want to fix it, before they will initiate a buy cycle with a salesperson. Salespeople who fail to take the time to diagnose and understand their buyer's goal and the critical issues that are preventing them from achieving that goal, either lose the sale to “No Decision” or to the sales representative who does.

2. No Solution
Despite the best efforts of your salespeople, the technical staff and yourself (the four-legged sales calls, the “must have, or we won't buy” reports, corporate visit, etc.) the buyer still does not have a clear understanding of how he will achieve his goal(s) by purchasing your product or service. Again, this is probably due to the salesperson's leading with product feature and function before first taking the time to diagnose and understand the prospect's pain, the goal that he wants to attain and then relating how the capabilities of your product or service could be used to eliminate that pain.

3. No Power
How many times have you or your salespeople spent months selling to someone who told you early in the sales cycle that the decision to buy your product was their decision, only to find out that in reality, he isn't authorized to purchase a package of pencils without someone else's approval? While end-users and recommenders are fun to sell to, their needs and requirements may be all together different than those of the ultimate decision maker--the person with the authority to buy. If someone doesn't have the authority to purchase your products or services, you're not selling; you're simply providing this person with a free education. Senior executives are charged with identifying and solving problems. Gaining access to the decision maker(s) early in the sales cycle can help eliminate the risk of “No Decision,” protect your expensive corporate resources and dramatically shorten the sales cycle.

4. No Value
We've already established that for a company to change how they are currently doing business there has to be a “goal.” That goal must be related back to dollars--reduced cost, avoided cost, increased revenue, etc. If you are asking a company to pay $100K for your product, the value of the achieving the goal(s) had better be at least $200K. It makes sense, doesn't it? Would you spend $100K to solve a $50K problem?

I'm amazed at the number of sales people who don't understand the value of their products and services to their prospects and, more importantly, don't actively participate in helping their prospect “cost justify” their purchase. Just think of the tactical advantage a seller has going into negotiations when he knows exactly how much his prospect will save and when they will achieve a return on their investment!

In summary, here are the primary steps that salespeople must implement to avoid a “No Decision” outcome:

• Gain credibility with prospects so that they share specific goals that can be addressed by your product and/or service.
• Diagnose the prospect's specific goals with a bias toward your product and/or service.
• Help prospects “see themselves” achieving their goals by using your products, thereby increasing the prospect's urgency to take action.
• Identify and gain access to the decision maker(s) early in the buy cycle.
• Place an actual dollar value on each of the ways your product or service will help them achieve their goals.