Why prospects ghost salespeople—and how to make it stop

TL;DR

And a really cool CTA at the end (because it's a newsletter, isn't it?).

Prospects are ghosting sales professionals. It's a scary problem (it's just after Halloween....). But it doesn't have to be. There are multiple challenges that lead to ghosting, including three that can be worked on.

1- The difficulty of creating value: all too often, sales professionals explain the value they bring. But as the saying goes, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". So the value of a service is in the eyes of the prospect. In sales, it's up to the prospect to articulate the value they would get. And this can be achieved by implementing a consultative selling and questioning strategy. Less telling, more asking

2- Difficulty accessing the decision-maker: If prospects disappear, it's often because salespeople limit themselves to a single person in their discussions. They don't multithread. But the data is there. Rapid access to a decision-maker can increase sales effectiveness by 230%. To solve this problem, sales organisations need to work on people's limiting sales beliefs, develop powerful sales DNA and resolve the "need for approval" from which they may suffer, establish a solid sales process and associated stages, boost the management skills of sales teams and implement the right sales techniques.

3- Sales cycles that are too long: Long sales cycles increase the risk of prospects disappearing. Time kills deals. It's mechanical.

Eleven commercial skills are needed to reduce sales cycles. One of these is the ability to follow the sales process. Training salespeople in this area produces convincing results. Data shows that the top 10% of salespeople are 283% more effective at following a process than the bottom 10%. "Coaching against the sales process and using an appropriate methodology are therefore essential to avoid ghosting.

So, if your sales team is seeing too many ghosts and you haven't given up on changing the way they sell, who are you going to call?) (hint: not Ghostbusters)

Longer, more data-rich version

A spooky story

This story is frightening. Don't read it if your heart isn't in it. And yet it happens all the time. A macabre story that happens in every corner of the world, even if it could be avoided. Are you ready for it?

This story is about an enthusiastic sales professional who meets a prospect. He makes a presentation and hears:

"This is very interesting, we need to implement this type of solution as soon as possible. Let me talk about it internally and get back to you".

What happens next is truly heartbreaking... The sales professional goes back to his office, updates the CRM and the probability of closing the deal, then goes home. And then (ominous music), the prospect disappears. He starts ghosting the sales assistant. Crazy, isn't it?

I'm guessing it's not the case in your company, but it's a real problem in other companies. And unlike most Hollywood movies, the story doesn't always end well. It often ends with follow-ups of opportunities that have no chance of actually closing, a lot of time spent on free consultancy or missed forecasts. So let's take a look at the 'script' of these horror films and the possible root causes of this ghosting problem (note: I'm continuing with the Halloween theme, so you've been warned...).

The 'scary' nature of a story is in the eyes of the beholder.

Personally, I don't like horror films. But other people do. What I find frightening, others find amusing. As the saying goes, "the beauty is in the eyes of the beholder", and the same goes for the value of what you're selling. Some sales professionals "think" that what they sell has value. They 'think' they understand how it will bring value to the prospect's organisation.

So they explain the value of their service at length and even have a series of case studies to prove the ROI they offer. Because they 'think' they need to prove ROI.

So why do prospects nod during meetings and then disappear? Well, it's the same as in horror films. When it comes to the value they bring, if it's the sales professional who has explained the value they bring, it's unfortunately their sales point of view. Not the prospect's point of view. And that's what leads to ... ghosting.

It's up to the prospect to be convinced and to clearly express the value they can derive, not the salesperson. And conversely, it's up to the prospect to express the impact of the problem encountered and the value they could obtain by solving it. To do this, we need to use appropriate consultative selling and questioning strategies.

In short, the solution?

Less telling, more asking.

The scary "last minute" character.

One of the classic things about horror films is the character who suddenly pounces on the young, attractive actress and murders her. And yet, the scariest thing is that we all know he's lurking around. We know he's about to jump out at the very last minute. And yet the attractive actress does nothing, absolutely nothing to prevent this.

Similar situations often occur in sales processes. Sales professionals only interact with a limited number of people within the organisation. They sometimes even deal with what are known as SPPs (Single Person Processes), i.e. processes in which they interact with just one person. They do not multithread. And why is that? For many reasons. They fear confronting the prospect, for example, because of a deep-rooted need to be appreciated, so they find it hard to establish a relationship as a trusted advisor - they have the relationship but not the respect - and to gain access to the various stakeholders. Or they are afraid to bypass their contact if necessary.

The data is clear. In Europe, where I work, among the top 10% of sales professionals, the ability to reach the decision-maker is 74%. And for the bottom 10%, it's 17%. The data comes from the Objective management group and a database of 2.4 million salespeople.

In other words, access to decision-makers leads to a 230% increase in sales effectiveness. For the sake of completeness, let's take a look at the WHY behind this problem? What are the reasons why salespeople have difficulty accessing decision-makers?

• Salespeople's beliefs: they don't think they should. Limiting thoughts are a powerful force limiting salespeople's potential.

• Sales team management: even though this is part of the sales process, management does not require it to happen and does not support salespeople in making it happen.

• Sales process: A sales process that is not robust enough and does not have a milestone that requires access to the DM.

• Sales DNA: they accept prospects' assertions as true and do not challenge them. They have a strong "need for approval".

• Sales techniques: they don't have the techniques to ask or go over the prospect's head if necessary.

Lost in time!

Do you know those films where the hero is lost in an endless cycle? He should be progressing but he doesn't and gets stuck in a time loop. Scary, isn't it! It's a very popular theme in films, a list of which can be found here.

And while it's a popular theme in Hollywood, the problem of sales opportunities that drag on, of prospects ghosting sales people and then suddenly reappearing and leading to sales cycles that are longer than necessary is a classic one - albeit not a very "popular" one in sales teams -. But once again, it's important to understand WHY these things happen.

There are in fact 11 underlying sales skills that are at the root of the long sales cycles detailed below - Editor's note: this comes from an example taken from a team analysis I carry out before starting a sales transformation project. It shows the strengths and weaknesses of each team member and enables appropriate coaching to improve revenues. 

In the example above, of the 7 people in 2 teams, only 2 are effectively following the sales process. This is cause for concern.

And if implementing a solid sales process and supporting salespeople to follow it closely is a key factor in sales effectiveness, what gains can be made in terms of efficiency?

If we dig deeper into the OMG data, we find that 74% of the top 10% of salespeople are able to monitor the sales process. By contrast, only 21% of the bottom 10% are able to do so. In short: a lot (283% to be exact).

[caption id="attachment_87122" align="aligncenter" width="840"] Sales skills of the worst performing salespeople[/caption].

Who are you going to call? Ghostbusters!

When I talk to sales managers and ask them if their sales teams experience ghosting and the answer is "Yes, often", I also sometimes hear "But that's just the way it is"... (true story and really scary to hear that managers think ghosting is normal).

So, if your team is getting ghosted and you don't think it's normal and you're convinced that by building questioning muscles, helping them understand how to access decision makers and implementing a robust sales process, you can help them achieve the results they deserve, who are you going to call? :).

And if you've read this far (congratulations), contact me and I'll arrange a free assessment of a member of your sales team (example below) on the 21 key selling skills. Then you'll know how to help him or her achieve the level of performance he or she really deserves.