Some time ago I started a new role.
The job was to hunt and sell new business, so I was hitting the phones hard trying to find new prospects.
Suddenly my mobile rang and when I answered, it was a buddy of mine who I had worked with previously. This friend of mine had recently set up on his own selling tech solutions that fundamentally competed with me. My friend went on to explain that he had found a new opportunity and had spoken with the prospect, only to be informed that the prospect was not convinced that my friends newly formed organisation would be credible enough to work with because being so newly formed “represented too much risk”
Because of this my friend thought of me (thank you) and passed on the contact details of the company and person responsible for the project.
I contacted the person concerned and I could tell by the “body language” down the phone that they had already invested a large amount of time with one of my competitors and would feel extremely awkward working with another supplier at this late stage in the sales cycle.
During the conversation I listened to his needs and suggested that if nothing else, I would put together a proposal anyway, so the company could make a final objective comparison.
Crucial to this story, I found out two pieces of very valuable additional information as well:
1/ The name of the competition, and
2/ The salesperson he was dealing with drove a new and sporty German manufactured car. (I think there was a little bit of the green-eyed monster going on!!)
Armed with the above information, I did two things immediately. I crafted a proposal, so I knew how much the solution was going to cost, and I ran a credit check on the competitor.
Boom!! The credit check was pretty shit!
The credit check I had run came back with a max credit limit of circa £15K for my competitor.
The revenue value for the solution was in the territory of £1M and at this time there was no cloud option available, so this procurement was going to be either straight Capex or maybe a lease rental, spreading the costs over a period of time. The prospective company were a floated organisation and were good for the money!
Assuming Capex, I would expect most suppliers to request a 50% deposit with the order, which might have been negotiated south to maybe 30% but even so, a not so insignificant amount of money.
I contacted my prospect and remember exactly what I said to him. It went like this.
“I have in my possession some information available in the public domain, which I believe is crucial you read prior to making your final decision”
I was invited to a meeting almost immediately, shared with this person the credit check and re-emphasised the risk of handing over a deposit of between 30-50% prior to receiving any product, and that the car he coveted represented at least double the value of my competitions max credit limit.
I then produced my proposal, we talked it through and guess what, they became my first customer and exceeded my annual target in month 2……………….Boom!
Always think outside of the box and be unconventional.
If you think I may be able to assist your organisation in any way, please don’t hesitate to get in touch anytime