Or are they just wasting your time?
You’re on the phone for hours with them. You’ve explained your entire process of how you are going to do the project for them – and they keep asking you to explain the same information over and over. You finally say to them, “I’m sorry, if I go further at this point that’s work product and that’s doing the job before I have it.”
You’re frustrated and are suffering from the equivalent of road rage (client rage?).
Here’s a sampling of might be causing this behavior:
o They are not the final decision maker, they’re just the tire kicker
o They have no idea what they are doing and
§ Need reassurance from someone in their own group or company
§ Hope you’ll educate them
o They don’t have confidence in your company (fear of the unknown)
o Generic inertia, idle curiosity, or comparison shopping (they already have a pet vendor)
o They are really just BS’ing and were never intent on moving forward
o They’re trying to make networking points with you or the referral
A trusted client referred a colleague to me for work. I told him what had transpired (endless hours of explanation) on the phone and in-person. The response was that the person was a moron (actually, much stronger language was used). My client told his colleague that he would never again refer a vendor to this guy because he abused them. Sometimes there is justice.
Some questions to qualify the prospect so they don’t waste your time:
- Find out who makes the final decision. Offer to email THEM your company info and questionnaire to help get their project in focus
- Ask for the close. If you don’t get it, find out why and what you have to do to get it – this forces them to put up or shut up
- Ask when the project needs to be done – is it soon or in a month or two – if they don’t know, that’s your answer
Sandra Holtzman teaches CEO 035: Licensing.