Prospects have many moves they learn at prospects’ school, but one of the most lethal is the positive move. The positive move is when the prospect appears to be eager to purchase your solution, especially early in the sales process.
Don’t get me wrong, there are always “blue birds” that fly in to a salesperson. Blue birds are minimal qualifying, quick-closing deals that close so fast that they may not even make it onto the forecast. They are extremely rare…but salespeople are always entranced by them. Prospects seem to be aware of these blue birds and will sometimes use a mechanism that mimics a blue bird.
The prospect becomes overly positive. I believe they have a clear motive for doing it. When prospects go positive, salespeople tend to dial down (or turn off) their qualifying skills. The salesperson stops asking qualifying questions about money, timing, decision process, etc. They shorten the meeting and quickly add the prospect to the forecast as a quick close. It is at this point that the “prospect” can quickly disappear in to the ether, never to be heard from again.
When prospects go positive, the salesperson has to go more positive. They need to ask questions about what it will take to get a purchase order today. Also, what is the ideal installation/delivery/solution date? Notice how this approach takes the prospect further positive…if they are not a blue bird, they will start moving in a negative direction. This movement is the key. Now the salesperson can start requalifying the opportunity. And they need to approach it as a fresh start, new opportunity…that may or may not make it to the forecast based on what the salesperson learns as they start requalifying.