Sales & Sales Management Brew

In the book 700 Sundays by Billy Crystal he talks about Willie ‘the lion' Smith.  Willie was a jazz musician and when young Billy would answer the phone, Willie would tell him (Billy) that he liked talking to him but he wanted to talk to his father because he had pockets. (Meaning Billy's father could pay him)

In the world of selling "no pockets' means no prospect; most sales professionals understand that.  What are most often forgotten, though, are the other two investments needed besides money. 

• 1. Time
• 2. Resources

Almost every purchase requires not just one of the three, but two of the three. If you don't uncover the amount of time someone is willing to invest to make problems go away, or if you don't uncover the resources they will allocate, then more times then not, you will get money objections and stalls at the time of presentation and close.

Keep in mind, you can't just ask about time, money and resources and assume that the prospect will tell you or what they tell you is the truth.  They have their own record collections and buy cycles to deal with. They think that all sales people lie and work the deals to their own advantage.  So you MUST get beyond the initial answer you get and dig further.  You must ask:

Who else is involved in the money part of the decision?

1. When do you expect to start investing?
2. How much?

Closing more business, more quickly at higher margins requires dealing with budget.  Failure to do so will result in failure to get a decision at time of presentation, pro-longed sales cycle and an opportunity for your competitor to get the business.