The demo went well. The media executive seemed impressed and  interested in the premise, and your platform is superior to competitors in critical ways.

Then they decide to take a pass, or  partner with a different company.

So what went wrong?

The good news is that the data can probably tell you what happened and how to circumvent these surprises in the future.

A study of  marketing technology purchasers (Walker Sands), shows that turn downs typically come from one of these three factors: Budget, difficult of implementation and internal resistance. 

Let’s take these one at a time, and show you how to use marketing materials that give your sales representatives the best chance of success.

Budget

Every sales rep worth their salt understands how to make a case for ROI. Sometimes it is just a fact that the culture of the purchasing company is not to exceed a mid-year budget no matter what the return, and there is nothing to do about it.

However, the sales person may not even talk to the internal executive most concerned about budgets.  If they have a case study from a real client on hand that proves ROI, however, their contact can pass it along to other influencers.  The same goes for competing against lower-priced but lower ROI options.

One last tip on budget is to include key data that may affect size of opportunity. Case studies should  impress the accountant, or c-level responsible for turning in a bottom line number.

Ease of implementation 

The old adage that a platform has to be at least seven times better than the existing one for a company to make a change holds true.

Not only does the ROI have to be great enough for a purchaser to take on a new expense, but also the implementation  cannot adversely effect other important company operations. Where difficulty of implementation is an issue, we recommend developing client  case studies, or minimally references,  of how speedy and simple implementations have been, as well as positive feedback from stakeholders.

Again, better to have a  ‘pass along’ than a verbal explanation alone. You may never know who within the company is overwhelmed by the idea of being responsible for ‘making it work´or lose internal trust from an unpopular initiative.

Internal resistance 

This is a related issue, and clearly the toughest of the three obstacles to overcome. Your sales reps can explain the ROI,  deliver client case studies and prove ease of  implementation, but just may not be able to overcome internal cultural biases.

The data shows that executives are not only sensitive to the opinions of  colleague and peers, but also the opinions of non-C level employees  (MarketingCharts).   Few managers want a battle to implement a platform, or stakeholders reluctant to participate in its success. So unless a top executives insists, unpopular changes, even if high value,  tend to die on the vine.

To make things more difficult, the influence of  sales reps is negligible while the actual decision  is being made. The purchasing company goes internal at this stage, talking amongst themselves.

The best way to overcome internal resistance is to include as many people as possible in the demo.

Use your client case studies, and encourage each participant to voice  concerns.  You can even prompt the issue, by asking for the top three concerns of the group at the beginning of the demo, so you can make sure they are addressed, and share the right case studies to reassure the na-sayers.

Marketing materials can actually  ‘brag about the objection’ by showing case studies and references that turn common obstacles into strengths. We can help you craft materials that ‘bake in’ the right messages.

Marketing materials can actually  ‘brag about the objection’ by showing case studies and references that turn common obstacles into strengths. We can help you craft materials that ‘bake in’ the right messages.