Your champion loves you. That's a feeling, not a fact. When your buyer is brand new to the organization, he doesn't know his own buying process, so you have to question it and get inside it.
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If you prefer to read - here is the transcript:
I was working with a customer the other day, a sales rep who had a great situation. One of his champions from a previous customer, who loved the solution, had gone to another firm. We all love it when that happens, right? And that other firm is now looking for a solution that perfectly fits what my customer has to offer.
So of course, they're feeling strong about the opportunity. And they say to me, "Colleen, this deal is going to close. My champion just has to get approval from their private equity, their board of directors, because he's new in the organization. But they're actively looking for this solution. They have budget for it. He's the guy in charge. He's a C-level or a VP level. And we're moving ahead."
Well, what do you think happened based on that assumption? Silence. All of a sudden ten days go by, 20 days go by, 30 days go by. And all the while, our sales rep is still holding back. "You know what, I trust him. He loves us. This deal is going forward." But we kept pushing him and pushing him to try to get more information.
Well, it turns out he wasn't just going to the PE board for approval as he thought. He didn't understand what the process would be, because he was too new to the organization. And of course, the PE board says, "Hey, why don't you consider these other solutions?" And he has no choice, because he's new and his bosses and his boss's bosses are asking for comparisons.
So I tell you this story because I don't want you to confuse fact versus feeling. The feeling is:
They love us.
We're going forward.
I've got a champion.
The fact is, he was new to the organization. He doesn't understand his own buying process. It's worth it for us to question, be skeptical and try to insert ourselves in their internal process, so that he has a champion in us.
Don't confuse fact for feeling, and never make assumptions, especially if your buyer, no matter how much they love you, is brand new to the organization. They probably don't know what they don't know.