Ask HN: Customers say they want to buy but never execute | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Customers say they want to buy but never execute

Something we run into from time to time when selling our software in person is that quite often we will have a great meeting, with decisonmakers/purchasers, they tell us they like the product and are ready to purchase. Then nothing happens and they fall off the earth. This has happened enough that we are starting to question our sales approach. Even in follow ups weeks later they say that they want to but just haven't gotten around to it.

We always make sure our leads our qualified to purchase and have the proper authorities to purchase so it's rarely the case where they just couldn't get it approved. We also make sure to "close" by signing them up on site - however the payment is always something they want to do on their own time and our system is built in a self service way anyway.

Anyone run into this or have ideas on how to get people to pay after they said they would?

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One concrete suggestion I would make is to watch Steli Efti's presentation on sales made to YC. It's filled with great info about how to qualify, follow up, pitch and in general, close sales. Steli is a master at that and maybe watching this will help you understand where things fell apart in your case. It's hard to say where it went wrong but I'm guessing with this info, you may be able to identify it better:

http://blog.close.io/y-combinator-sales-school

Big Steli fan here :)

Take a look at these

http://blog.close.io/hot-prospect-turns-cold

http://blog.close.io/postponing-the-purchase

Thanks! :)

wow, big thanks for that link.

Several questions/items:

1. If you are "signing them up on the site" and they aren't paying, are they continuing to use the site? If so, just suspend their account until they pay or if they don't pay after that close their account.

2. Is it a product that you are getting signed contracts with an agreement to pay? If so there is always the possibility of that you could pursue a legal angle.

3. I would focus on finding out what their hold ups are on paying by digging deeper. Offer to hold their hand on the payment process. From what it sounds like these customers potentially like your product and may see an initial use in it, but it is not something they are willing to pay for and are trying to be nice and hope you go away by just not paying.

4. In the future you could raise the price of your product and offer then offer various discounts for paying on-time or early.

5. Is it a one-time fee or subscription service? You may try playing with the pricing and payment terms (i.e. if you only offer a monthly price try adding additional terms like quarterly or annually. Or if you only offer a one-time fee try breaking it up over time).

(Edited to fix typos)

To count as a sale, walk away with:

Signed & enforceable contract for service, or

Filled out Credit Card auth form (paper & signature works)

'We can invoice you, no problem, but we need a CC & auth today to turn on your service immediately. We promise to only charge the CC when we don't receive payment after the invoice is past its due date and will email you 2 business days prior to charging your card. My accoutning group tells me we rarely have to charge the card, but it ensures uninterrupted service due to some small accounting issue.'

Dont pay out/promise commissions until you get paid! See also clawbacks for terminations. Sales needs to get the money fully across the finish line.

best of luck

Sounds like:

1) don't have an upfront contract and agenda when the meeting is setup. OR

2) your "customers" didn't realize the purpose of the meeting was to actually buy. OR

3) you don't know what your customers internal purchasing process is. OR

4) ???

There are so many books written about sales, read a few more.

Sales is harder that tech people believe.

But since you say "from time to time" - that sounds like you are successful in part at closing deals. What is the difference between the meetings that result in a purchase and one that doesn't?

I work in a country where late-payments are everyday story so it's quite standard procedure. My advice is to use a good lawyer, if the contract is signed, there is little that can be done on their side.

The April number of Harvard Business Review had a bunch of good ideas and talks on the sales process, it may be a good read:) https://hbr.org/archive-toc/BR1504

Deals aren't closed until the money changes hands. The terms and conditions of your offer should stipulate when payment is due in accordance with your goals. There are plenty of businesses that won't pay until the last minute, if you float them, you are essentially their bank. If you're in the banking business that can work. If you aren't it usually doesn't.

Good luck.

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