Customer Agreed Close Dates. The first question I often ask sales reps when looking at specific deals is “when will it be closing?” The second question and often far more important is “Does the customer agree with you?” Any response other than a rock solid affirmative means the customer has not yet agreed. If the customer has not agreed to the date, guess what is likely to happen? – It’s not closing on the date in the pipeline. Get the customer to work toward an agreed close date. If you make a suggestion and the customer falls over laughing, then the dates probably wrong. Now, if you want to test the commitment to the date ask them “for how long they can delay the decision?” If you get an answer anything other than we can’t, then it is very probable the deal is going to be delayed. If this is the case, guess what’s missing? – The Business Imperative – for those that have read my previous posts may well have seen that I have written about this topic before – however, for those that haven’t here’s a quick summary…

What you need to do is to understand the customer’s business imperative. This is not just about understanding their need, it is about why they must address the need now. The name gives it away – Business – you must link the need to business issues. Business issues are to do with customer retention, development and acquisition; revenue creation; process efficiency; cost reduction and business continuity. The second part of the name – Imperative – meaning it’s absolutely fundamental to address now. You may often find a customer has a need, but it’s the imperative that is missing. See Business Imperative Analysis and download the full eBook… for free!

So, the most important question… “Does the customer agree with you?”

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