Top 25 warning signs of losing a sales deal in B2B

During any sales process in Business-to-Business there are warning signs or situations that indicate it is becoming clear you are losing the sales deal.

1.  Craving information instead of explaining about their problem.
2.  Receiving additional information late in the sales process.
3.  Pushing to get price estimate during first meeting or first phone cal without discussing the benefits.Caution - warning sign
4.  No progress is being made whatsoever after several meetings and conference calls.
5.  Getting stuck with mid-level managers, taking no action to involve upper management.
6.  Not able to reach the decision makers who never have participate in a meeting or call.
7.  Comparing and matching your solution with the one from one specific competitor.
8.  Specifications from the product sheet of your competitor.
9.  The benefits of your solution are considered less important than any of the competition.
10. Receiving the price quote request or RFP shortly before due date (almost too late).
11. Having a meeting where no new information comes to the table.
12. The influencer or decision maker is excused again for not participating in a meeting or conference call.
13. Noticing they haven’t read or investigated in any of the information you provided.
14. Changing the requirement half way through the sales process (matching the competitor better).
15. The influencer wearing a T-shirt of the competitor.
16. Having to explain again the benefits which they don’t seem to get.
17. Never having any call returned if they are not present.
18. The PA of the buyer or the PA of the decision maker asking to spell again your company name on the phone.
19. Noticing the influencer or decision maker in a meeting on the booth of the competitor.
20. On a trade show: the decision maker or influencer is hardly greeting you, not stopping to visit your booth.
21. The influencer and decision maker arrive late and leave early on meetings for important meetings.
22. People asking the obvious again and again.
23. Conclusion of a meeting that the all-important people have no time for this.
24. Getting meetings postponed many times in a row.
25. Noticing your competitor with the CEO or COO or VP Sales in the lobby of the company, while you are waiting
      for a meeting with a manager.

If you notice one or several of these indications, it’s up to you to decide:
To continue or to stop selling to this customer.
Maybe it is better to focus on the next opportunity with:
- another potential customer.
- this company again on a next project.

What are your warning indications for losing a sales deal in B2B?
What do you do then?

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6 Responses to “Top 25 warning signs of losing a sales deal in B2B”

  • Top 25 warning signs of losing a sales deal in B2B : The … | Advanced Lead Generation says:

    [...] Original post: Top 25 warning signs of losing a sales deal in B2B : The … [...]

  • Jill Whalen says:

    Good list!

    I find it frustrating when b2b companies use the proposal or RFP process to simply fish for information on how they can do your services themselves.

    It sometimes seems that the largest companies are the greatest perpetrators of that!

  • Perry says:

    I love this list. I believe that these are applicable to all kinds of leads that you have, whether you’re dealing with mortgage leads, insurance leads, or education leads. But I guess there’s one thing that should be added there: you will start losing sales if you don’t follow a lead management process.

  • marcusdxs says:

    You are right, i agree with everything you mentioned in your comment!
    :)

  • Insurance Lead Generation says:

    I have a question for the community. Most lead providers get their leads from online quote request and then they resell them like 4 or 5 times. I’ve been burned like this a few times already so my question is, how about telemarketing to generate insurance leads? I’ve heard good and bad things so if anyone has any feedback please let me know your thoughts before I spend even more money testing things out.

  • The Leads Explorer says:

    Why don’t you just look on your website?
    Those visiting companies are interested – they are potential leads.

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