Is Your Sales Rep Selling with “Alternative Facts”?

Sales is a bottom line business, you either make your number or you don’t. That’s why it is common to hear colleagues and senior leadership say:

“You may not have the highest opinion of Joey, but you can’t argue with success.”

Actually, I am willing to argue about the definition of success. I’ve seen it happen many times: Sales professionals are hailed as heroes on a national level because of their ability to sell, then are later despised because they promised the impossible just to get the deal.

Yet, they still survive because the business is afraid to reprimand them because they might leave. When the sales leadership doesn’t have the backbone to say “No!” it often results in key employees quitting, unhappy clients and massive refunds to “make up” for promises not kept.

Important Questions to Ask

By asking the right questions of yourself and the sales professionals on your team, before closing a deal, you can avoid these problems.

1. Have we promised any products or services that our service or implementation team can’t deliver?
2. Have we promised any products or services that exist but are not ours?
   • Who will be providing them? Are they aware of this?
   • Does our team know this? Have they agreed to it? Do you have it in writing?
3. Have you set a timeline for delivery that is tighter than the standards set by our service and implementation team?
   • If Yes, have they agreed to this in writing?
   • Is the customer aware that this is an exception and that it will be challenging for us to pull it off in time?
   • Has the customer agreed to provide all resources needed from their end in a timely manner?
   • Does the customer realize that if they are late, the project/product will be late?
4. Has finance agreed, in writing, to all the discounts and price incentives you have provided to this customer?
5. Have you told me everything I need to know?
6. If you have not told me everything, and we find out you have withheld information or promised something impossible to get the deal done, are you willing to lose all commission and potentially your job?

If you receive the wrong answers to these questions, you must be willing to shut down the deal. And, the only way this will work is if you have established these standards in advance and are willing to enforce them.

While you may need to customize these questions to your business, it is important ask them, especially that last one. As a sales leader, you should make decisions clearly and consciously, and own the outcomes. Engage your extended team in implementation, operations, manufacturing/production and service so everyone is aware and signed off on the exception or the creativity that will be required to win the deal.

This leads to better internal and external relationships, and creates an environment of teamwork and collaboration versus resentment and sabotage. The last thing you want to do is frustrate the very people you need to be successful.

My goal for you is to have someone say:

“You gotta hand it to Joey, not only has he been incredibly successful, he has done it without cutting corners.”

It can be done. You just have to make the decision to do it that way.