Demand Generation Machine

The thing about closing deals and getting contracts signed in B2B selling is no matter how good you are, there can always be unpredictability and its not over till its over. How many times have you been so sure that a deal was going to close when the day before the contract was to be signed, the company who was buying got acquired, the person whom you negotiated with moved to another company or decided they may have to wait since something has just come up which may change things?

Just when you think you are done with your sales quota just before the end of the quarter and you think its time to take it easy now and all of a sudden something changes, the pipeline of closures that were supposed to fall through don’t and you are left high and dry without much time left to set things right. Alright I admit that may sound a bit dramatic but closure is not always predictable and doesn’t always happen the way you expect them or when you expect them and its always better to be conservative with expectations and end up closing a bit above the goal rather than falling short. Some things you can do to avoid disappointment are:

- Set expectations right while setting your goal and plan for the worst

- Don’t count your chickens before they hatch or rather before they sign the dotted line that way you know exactly where you stand at any point in time and are not looking at what the numbers might be should everything work out perfectly and every prospect convert into sales

- Always maintain a larger pipeline of qualified warm leads than you need so you have prospects to fall back on if some of those you are expecting will convert don’t work out

- Pursue closures aggressively right from the start and don’t wait till the end of the month or for just before a sales target deadline to push for closures

Its not over till the fat lady sings …. or the sale is complete.