What Nobody Tells You About Appearing Overly Positive & Eager in a Sales Discussion

Saying yes can be costly

Imagine this.

• You are in the final discussion with a prospect.
• You covered all you must, with given time.
• You addressed all questions with ease.

You breathe easy, knowing the past 59 minutes flew by without hiccups. The prospects in the boardroom appear relaxed. Your gut feels good.

Moments later, your eyes zoomed into that one decision-maker. His yes, no, or maybe is all that mattered.

The boardroom is filled with a deafening silence. Everyone is waiting for HIM to say something. So far, nothing. He was flipping the proposal page by page.

And then, the question you dread attacks your ear.

“Can you slice the project period by three months, start tomorrow, and give me a 30%?”

The $1M Dilemma

That project carries a contract value of $1 million.

• Lose it, and I miss my target for the quarter.
• Accept it, and I enter hell the next day.

Would you say yes or no to the prospect’s counter-proposal?

I can guess your answer.

Obviously, no!

Of course. There are lovely clients, and there are devils in monkey suits. Never deal with the devil, right?

If only it was that easy.

Moments define our careers. Such moments are stressful and littered with foreseeable or perceived consequences.

• You are afraid of losing this deal you chased for 8 months.
• You don’t want them to perceive you as inexperienced.
• You do not want to offend this client-to-be.

And so, your mouth muttered yes when your heart screamed no.

Appearing Too Eager May Backfire

You are not the only supplier or consultant your prospect met up with.

Oh, come on!

No one buys after listening to one pitch.

They must have listened to 10 pitches that day. They sat in, yawned, reviewed the pricing of goods and services, poked holes during Q&A, and posted the exact question to them as to you.

Let us assume that you got assigned the 4 pm slot. And you are the last guy to grab the mike.

That means…

• 6 competitors might have said no to the same request before you,
• 2 of them might have responded with let me come back to you,
• 1 could have agreed to a shorter delivery but not the discount,

… and you have no idea what happened.

How would your prospect think about you, your professionalism, and your company’s experience in delivering large-scale projects… if you said yes to everything?

That’s right. Prospects know that they are dealing with a newbie immediately.

And you walk away thinking you scored a goal.

Such moments, to me, are filled with regrets. Looking back, of course.

These days, I keep my mouth shut.

Prospects Can Use Teasers to Nudge You to Say Yes

Think only apex marketers deploy psychological nudges? Think again.

C-level executives are the real masters.

They line you up with competitors. And then, they dangle that sausage above you. They want you to jump.

The highest jump wins the deal.

That begs the next question.

How do prospects get us to jump our highest jump? That is easy.

Heard of boiling the frog? It’s that exact strategy.

They get you comfortable during the initial stages of the discussion by asking for,

• A freebie.
• A bearable discount.
• A shorter delivery schedule for the same scope of work.

They will test your boundaries. That back and forth will tell them your comfort level and negotiation baseline.

They will dangle the next sausage on top of the existing one once they figure you out.

“I know this will put you in a difficult position, but if you can agree to my conditions, I will consider you for the subsequent 7-digit contract.”

Now you are caught between a rock and a hard place.

This is my advice. Trust your gut belly. Say no.

Because clients will keep pushing.

Because if you keep saying yes to your clients… your team may fail to deliver.

Your reputation is at stake.

I Remember One Story…

Then, I was a project manager.

And I worked with a clueless peer.

Sharon was the sales manager for the client I was working with. She was positive, eager, and always had that big smile hanging on her face.

The client loved her.

But they loved her for reasons beyond that.

I suspect this is the dominant reason.

She always said yes.

• She agreed to deliver a software enhancement at zero cost.
• She said yes when the client asked for an unbillable service extension period.
• She nodded aggressively when the client’s CIO asked for software support out of goodwill.

I was appalled.

Sharon never knew that she was eaten alive by our clients. Bit by bit.

That taught me a valuable lesson.

Learn to push back.

Because giving in all the time will invite drunkards to believe they can drink for free forever.

In Parting

It is one thing to be positive.

It is another thing to appear to be too eager.

Prospects are like sharks. They can smell blood. When they do, they pounce.

You want to avoid that. We can do so by routinely pushing back.

Give, but also learn to take.

That way, we gain.

After all, you want to sign a deal with commissions coming into your pocket, right?

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