My Prospect Slapped Me In The Face

perfect-closeNot literally… but based on the Ah-Ha Moments I’m about to share with you, it’ll make more sense. I’ve been in a few deals this year that are larger than your typical HCM technology deals. One opportunity in particular kept me up at night. I’ve gone through the sales process (twice), showed them the product (three times), provided a cost matrix and even discounted heavily. Then, out of nowhere, the prospect tells me they won’t be making a change for at least 12 months. My jaw hit the floor… I did everything humanly possible to win their business and it only bit me in the butt.

I did what every salesperson has done in their life… I was executing ‘continuations’ through out my sales cycle and not ‘advances’.

“An advance is a significant action that requires energy by the client — either during the call or right after it — that moves the sale toward a decision.

continuation is a situation where the sale will continue yet no specification has been agreed upon by the customer to move forward.”[note]Page 58[/note]

Ultimately, the fault comes back to me, the salesperson for not having the prospect put enough skin in the game. I thought, based on their reaction and continuing the process, I was making great progress. Boy was I wrong… and it hurt! I let my cycle get in the way of asking the buyer, throughout the process, how their buying cycle was coming along…

“We must always remember that despite our sales cycle, the buyer has their own buying cycle. Ignoring their buying cycle and focusing only on the steps of your sales cycle may cause you to invest your time unwisely.”[note]Page 74[/note]

You can say that again! I got a little excited about being part of a big deal where the outcome was in my favor… at least I thought so. No other competitor was being brought to the table. It was just me against the incumbent and it was mine to lose. Looking back, once upper management switched the CFO, half way through the process, I should have stopped the process instead of throwing myself further into the opportunity. I had already devoted so much time with the company, what’s another few hours to do everything all over again?

Being overly optimistic has a way of kicking myself every once in a while. Thinking I could catch the new CFO up to speed and get them in my good graces was one of those times.

“The trap I repeatedly see professionals fall into is wasting huge amounts of time on prospective business that will never close because they have misjudged curiosity and interest (and sometimes simple politeness) as indicators of good sales opportunities.”[note]Page 92[/note]

Once I read this part, I texted James… Ya, we text 😛 He gave me some reassurances, which made me feel better. But man, time is such a valuable asset. If you’re reading this right now, I’m sure you’ve felt the same pain at some point in your career. It sucks. I have the absolute best intentions when I meet with prospects and clients. Everything I do is for the greater good of our partnership. I’ve done everything I can to portray this in my partnerships and when they give up on me/my company, it hurts.

Adding value has been a HUGE talking point through out my first year of writing, talking and teaching.

“It is critical that we add value on every single sales encounter. This is a relatively new development in selling. Twenty years ago it was not as importation that sales people deliver anything beyond information about their products and services. Because of the internet all of that has changed. It is now vital that we make the sales experience itself valuable for clients.”[note]Page 105[/note]

If you haven’t figured that out by now, you’re definitely behind the ball. There are many consumer review sites, most people are on LinkedIn or social media and word of mouth is extremely powerful in a condensed area or territory. If someone has had a bad experience, there’s a good chance someone else will have a free ear to listen.

Finding ways to differentiate yourself from other companies and other sales professionals is important to stay ahead of the curve. Always providing value is a MUST today!

Long Story Short; Because I didn’t make the prospect ‘have any skin in the game’, they were able to walk away from the buying process without even blinking an eye. It felt like a slap in the face because I’d bent over backwards for 6 months and nothing came of it. It might be hard… but don’t always be a giver. Make the prospect give you something in return. Ya, they might say you… but then you can determine how serious they are about working with you.

 

There’s definitely more from me to come!

The Perfect Close by James Muir

Your Employees Are Stealing From you

timeclick imageThis happens every day and this happens everywhere.

“It’s costing companies $400 Billion annually”

According to the American Payroll Association (APA),

“Almost 75% of businesses in the U.S. are affected by what is known as ‘time theft’.”

This is when someone clocks in early, clocks out late, records inaccurate hours, has someone ‘buddy punch’ them into or out of work, takes frequent breaks, conducts personal activities or by just playing on your phone.

The APA also says,

“Time theft can cost companies up to 7% of their gross annual payroll.”

Imagine, you’re spending $1 million in payroll… That equals $70,000 each year you’re losing to theft. Maybe it’s not being done on purpose, but are you willing to sacrifice 7% of money?!

“43% of hourly workers surveyed admit to exaggerating the amount of time they work during their shifts.”

Can you even fathom the amount of money your organization is losing because people are clocking in a few minutes early or a few minutes late?

Let’s do a little math: Let’s say you’re paying your employees the ‘soon to be’ minimum wage; $15. This person is scheduled for five- 4 hour shifts equaling 20 hours a week.

Now, let’s say this person likes to clock in 5 minutes early and clock out of work 5 minutes late. That’s an additional 10 minutes they’ll be paid for each time they work. 5 shifts a week times 10 minutes equals 50 minutes.

50 minutes’ worth of pay equals $12.45… and that’s for each week for one employees. Now, that might not seem like a lot of money, but if you multiply $12.45 by 52 (weeks in a year), you get $647.40.

Those harmless 5 minutes early to work and 5 minutes leaving late just costed the company an additional $647.40 a year. That’s just ONE employee.

Can you afford to lose that much money a year? I can think of so many other things companies would prefer to spend that money on.

“Less than one-quarter record inaccurate times for their shifts. One-quarter say they exaggerate the hours worked for 76 to 100 percent of their shifts.”

That’s an insane statistic! You know there’s a way to prevent these things from happening… right?!

Biometrics clocks with finger print or capillary readers. Only 3% of the people surveys said they were able to steal time that way. Time is money people… and if you don’t protect your time, you’re going to run out of money.

If you don’t want to pay for software, you need your managers to watch this more closely. You need someone in HR running the reports to make sure time isn’t being stolen. You need to have set rules about when to clock into and out of work. Hold your people accountable and you’ll save yourself a lot of money.

 

In conclusion, cutting down on ‘stolen time’ can save your organization a lot of money. Paychex has established a way to make this very possible. Biometric clocks in real time directly connected with your payroll can give you a 360 degree view of where your time is being stolen. Also, you get the reporting functionality to pin point the losses.

Don’t fall victim to ‘time theft’. Let me know how I can help!

 

Jordan Barta is the author of The Ah-Ha Moment. Jordan works with organizations on all levels of Human Capital Management. Whether it be recruiting, onboarding, background checks, payroll, HR, time and attendance, health & benefits, 401k, cobra, workers comp or insurance, he has a network of professionals willing to execute and make your business better.

Connect with him on LinkedIn or Twitter.

If you’re looking for the statistics behind the article, please go to “43% of employees commit time theft: How software can reduce payroll losses” by research and reviews firm Software Advice.