Converting that last detractor/holdout - Guidance?

Give (and get) Advice
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I’m curious to know how others have handled situations like these and managed to convince a detractor.

I’ve been working with a prospect for almost a year now. We have buy-in from all the key players at 1 level below C suite. However, one person (reports to a key decision-maker that is bought in) just doesn’t get it and is holding up the deal.

How have others converted that last holdout to move a deal over the line?

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@jared.jacobovitz. A few questions for ya…

Is this individual just not getting it or are they completely opposed to your solution? Are the proposing another fix?

What does your Champion say about this individual?

What are his/her pushbacks?

In general, IMO, there are two ways you can go about this…

(1) Leverage your Champion(s)

(2) Continue with the education and find out what would be in it for them. If your solution is solving a business issue and they will benefit, you will need to drag them through the glass.

It would also help to understand more about the individual, were they just recently brought into the mix?
What is their role? How much political clout do he/she have?

What is the decision process? Is it majority vote or unanimous decision?

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@greg.nishihira

They just dont get it, despite 3 bespoke demos and the end users explaining exactly the problem it solves. Our champion has explained it ad nauseum as well as the SVP of Sales. They arent the end user and are relatively new to the business function so I think there is a learning curve that’s just not accelerating.

This person is critical to the decision process since they would own the administration of the platform as well as it falling into their budget.

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@jared.jacobovitz you may not like my answer, but you are going to start from square one with this cat. Find out how they handled this issue previously.

If this person is critical, you are going to have to build them up to a champion.

-Access to Power (EB)
-Political Clout
-Personal Win
-Selling on your behalf

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I believe that people are more willing to make a decision more out of pain avoidance than for benefit of gain. Will the holdout suffer from pain if they don’t move forward with a decision. If so, highlight the impact of not making a decision and how he/his company will suffer by not going forward. also, if possible, I would show the risk of not going forward is greater than the risk of change.

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  1. Validate their concerns and try to respond to them respectfully and completely.
  2. Tell a story about a customer with similar concerns and share the outcome.
  3. What is the cost of doing nothing? Put a dollar figure on it and list the risks to the business.
  4. Ask the person who is signing what they think. It could be the detractor isn’t critical to closing.
  5. Do they have a legitimate concern or are they merely trying to exert a level of control? If it’s a concern, deal with it and put it to bed, If it’s a control issue, then discuss it with person signing the deal and put it back in his/her lap and ask them how they are going to deal with it.
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drag them through glass!

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He doesn’t get it or doesn’t want to get it.

  • Does your solution threaten what he does and possibly make him feel less important?
  • Is it an ego issue or business-related issue around cost or the challenge of implementation?

You need to find out what the issue is. If it is an ego-related issue, you can either work to understand and get on his side or go around him. You need to have your supporters coach you up on this person.

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