If you’re hearing “I need some time to think about it” when you present your proposal, it might be that you are not involving the prospect in the development of the solution as part of your sales strategy.
Look back over your most recent sales process with an important prospect. How many contacts, interactions, or updates did you have between the needs analysis meeting and your presentation? Did you confirm the needs you uncovered? Did you keep the prospect updated on the progress of the ideas you were developing? And more importantly, did you ask the prospect to be involved in finishing an idea or two that you had partially developed?
Or, did you simply fall victim to the “two call non-close” -- a needs analysis meeting followed by a slightly modified package presentation?
If so, no wonder the prospect “wants to think about it.” You would too, if you had seen a proposal built around an idea you were hearing for the first time.
Count the number of meaningful interactions since your last meeting (or better yet, take a look at the critical path you’ve used to record these), and decide if you’re really involving the prospect, or if you’ve slipped into the two-step pattern of needs analysis followed by a single idea sprung upon the prospect in the very next meeting.
When you truly involve the client in building a solution, she won’t need time to “think about it,” because likely she’s done as much work and decision making as you have!
Avoid the "two call non-close" by learning how to conduct a stronger needs analysis call from the start.
