A friend recently told me about a sales opportunity he had been working on.
Multiple people involved in the decision making process and my friend met with everyone (as a group) to determine their current problems, goals and objectives. He developed a proposal, followed up, followed up and followed up some more.
However, as time went on, the terms of the deal began to change, including:
- The size and scope of the opportunity dropped–significantly.
- His prospects began asking for more concessions.
- Several people who had expressed high interest now appeared disinterested.
- A few of the decision makers stopped responding to his correspondence.
Consequently, my friend felt less comfortable pursuing the opportunity. So, he sent his contacts a polite email and said that he was walking away from the opportunity. He explained his rationale and expressed disappointment but he also left the door open for future conversations.
Within 24 hours, one of the decision makers called him, apologized for the problems and promised to get everything back on track.