Jonathan Nzali | “Time Kills All Deals”

Jonathan Nzali The quote above comes from a Sales VP for whom I have great respect. And it rings true in every definition of a “deal.” If you are a Sales VP selling your company’s product or service, and the sales process with a specific customer seems to drag on and on for reasons you cannot comprehend then the deal may be off. You may save yourself some headaches by assuming that it is dead indeed.

We see this all the time in our portfolio companies. One firm was told almost exactly a year ago they were going to get an order with two commas in it on July 24, 2011. As that day approached, they were told that a reorganization had occurred at the customer and the order would have to wait until the new boss arrived and blessed it in September.

When he arrived, that new boss had many other higher priorities on his plate, and so finally in December was ready to review the proposal. But the team that had championed the proposal had not taken to the new boss, and had moved on to other firms. So, the new boss said he’d get their replacements in place, and let them re-propose if they wanted to.

The replacements were hired in early 2012, and after a few months of getting their feet on the ground decided to proceed. They went as far as a detailed work plan and deliverable set – including not just the first order, but a follow-on planned for 2012. But still no order appeared.

Then it was revealed that the new team was going to go to the rank and file employees who would have to work with the new product to be sure to get their buy-in. That meeting happened, but no feedback was received for weeks. Finally, now almost a year after the initial near win, an email arrived saying the potential customer had decided to “go in a different direction.”

It should not be a surprise. Any good sales leader can tell you that the scariest thing to hit a sales cycle is a management change. Here, we had at least two. But more important, any deal that goes from “you’ll have the order in date x” to silence is a deal that has a very low probability of closing – whatever the reason for the silence.