Whether a business offers products or services, closing a business deal comes into play at one point or another. Successfully moving an opportunity to closure can be tricky. There are many reasons why a business deal could fall through. Though no plan is fool-proof, some factors that are far more common than others. Being familiar with these could mean the difference between your business surviving or becoming extinct. Here is a look at five factors that could have come into play, causing the deal not to close. Keep them in mind as you develop strategies to close more deals in the future.
You Didn’t Build a Strong Relationship
Strong relationships increase the influence you have on those you are negotiating with. This will result in the other party being more open to your message. A strong relationship gives you access to decision makers and sensitive information. This is why you need to build a strong relationship when you are negotiating a deal.
Techniques in relationship building include developing rapport, building trust, and demonstrating your expertise. These steps are only effective if you are authentic. Authentic means being empathetic and being a good listener. In business dealings, you need to show you are reliable, responsive, confident, and demonstrative of your knowledge and available solutions.
Without relationship building, a business deal will, ultimately, fail. Anyone aiming to close an important deal should exchange business phone numbers from the start. It’s important to stay engaged, and make every effort to meet in-person, if possible. Staying in communication is what truly builds a relationship.
Was the Opportunity Qualified?
Not every opportunity translates into a qualified opportunity that should be pursued. A skilled professional will have an established qualification checklist that they can quickly utilize to assess the quality of the opportunity. Items to be taken into consideration include:
- The timeline
- Next steps
- Budget
When analyzing business deals that did not close, it’s important to consider how well it was qualified. Consider the gaps in knowledge about the opportunity and how preparation could have been better managed.
Identifying Problems and Concerns
A third reason many business deals fail is that an important problem or concern was left unidentified. Problems and concerns, as well as solutions to those problems and concerns, are primary drivers that stimulate the need and desire to close a deal. If the other party were perfectly happy with their existing situation, there would be no need for change. Identifying the reason for the wish to change by asking the right questions is key.
For example, if you’re offering an estimating service to a construction company, you would need to ask questions like:
- “Hello, how may I help you?”
- “Why is that important to you now?”
- “What revenue do you want your business to be doing?”
Dive deep into the mind of your prospect and you will find ways to help the sale be a win-win.
Significant Motivation
Identifying a problem or concern is simply not enough. When negotiating a deal, there needs to be significant motivation to engage in change. This means helping the other party to quantify the extent of their problems or concerns and how this is impacting them and/or their business. Quantifying a problem or concern means asking the right questions to uncover the information you need in order to develop a solution to their problem or concern. The solution is going to be to close the deal with you, but you need the information first. In doing this, explore both negative and positive consequences of change.
Failure to Connect Their Needs With Your Solution
Assuming that the party involved in the negotiations has a problem that needs to be solved, a clear connection must be established between what they need and the solution you are offering in closing the deal. Often, the deal does not close because there is a failure in the application of knowledge. Perhaps you have to clearly lay out how your products or services will fulfill their needs. Perhaps you have to clearly connect the dots to show how closing this particular deal will meet their needs and solve their problems. This is not a time to allow for any ambiguity. The benefits need to be crystal clear or the person you are negotiating with will walk away.
Closing the Business Deal by Properly Planning
A common thread that will help in avoiding all of the above 5 reasons a business deal did not close is a lack of preparation. Through proper planning, including development of questions in advance, these issues can be avoided and a deal has a much better chance – if not solid chance – of closing successfully and getting to enjoy great options like mega888.
When thinking of how to close a sale or finalize a business deal, there are many things that can slip through the cracks. These factors will allow for the deal to shatter. Proper planning goes a long way in ensuring this does not happen. Virtual phone numbers can assist in staying in communication when you are on-the-go.