How to Overcome the Infamous ‘Due Diligence’ Excuse in Sales

‘I need to do my due diligence.’

Ever heard such a phrase from one of your prospects? If you haven’t, you likely got into the profession of sales this morning. In fact, ‘I need to do my due diligence’(or some close derivative) is likely the most commonly used prospect exit strategy in the world today.

No question, the economy has had an interesting impact on sales, especially with big-ticket items. Because so many markets are struggling, consumers know they can get great deals and therefore are meeting with more companies and looking for more quotes before they make a decision.

With such being the norm in today’s economy, the skills and abilities of a sales professional are a critical necessity to any success at all. But even more so, I would argue that the true ‘skills’ sales persons need in 2010 and beyond are the upfront relationships they’ve established with potential clients before they ever even sit at the negotiation table(or make ‘real’ contact) for the first time.

But I need to…….

Just the other night, I was sitting with a client who was quite serious about buying a swimming pool. For the sake of ease, will call the gentleman ‘Bob’ and no doubt this man had done some serious research before I’d ever gotten to his home. After a few minutes of conversation, I’d found out that he had read almost all of my blog articles. He’d also seen countless videos I’d produced. Without a doubt, he(and his wife who was with him) viewed me as an expert and I knew it, as his trust in me was obvious from his general demeanor and smile throughout our conversation.

The sales appointment lasted about 1 hour. During that time, I felt very confident that I was going to get an affirmative ‘yes’ from this man at the end of our discussions, as all the typical positive sales ‘signs’ were present.

But to make a long story short, at the end of our discussion/presentation, I asked Bob for his business and he told me that he loved the price, he loved the pool, and he also loved our company. Notwithstanding all of this though, there came the infamous ‘but’ after his positive words.

‘But I just feel like I need to get at least one more quote as to do my due diligence, so I’ve set up one more appointment for next week, I’m sure you can understand.’

Alas, the infamous ‘due diligence’ statement strikes again…..and I thought things were going so well.

But instead of just rolling over and agreeing with Bob, the following conversation occurred:

Me: ‘With all due respect Bob, I do not agree, but let me explain to you why. You say you need to do your due diligence, which I completely understand and empathize with. But let’s look at your actions up to this point a little more closely. Based on what you’ve told me tonight, you’ve read just about every blog article I’ve written about fiberglass pools. You’ve seen all the educational videos I’ve put out there. You’ve called some of the references I sent to you before this appointment. And, as you stated earlier, you’ve also checked out other companies online and not been nearly as impressed with their efforts to teach and inform. You know our history in your area and you’ve only heard great things about our company. Am I accurate with all these statements Bob?

Bob: Yeah, that all sound about right.

Me: So you see Bob, you’ve actually been doing nothing but due diligence up to this point. In fact, you’ve done more due diligence than almost 99% of all consumers do before buying a pool based on your knowledge.  Do you see where I’m coming from Bob?

Bob: I do.

Me: And based on all of this you’ve done Bob, just answer this one question for me: Does your gut tell you that we are the company to go with?

Bob: (a few second of pensive thought) It does…

Bob’s Wife: Then stop thinking about this so hard and just write the young man a check. You know you’re going to go with these guys so there is no reason not to make the decision now.

Needless to say, Bob went and got his checkbook.

Obviously, not all situations like this one end with a prospect deciding to cancel their other sales appointments and going ahead with the purchase. But the core moral of this story remains the same, and will continue to as long as sales and marketing is a part of the world in which we all live:

The more value a company can give to its prospects and customers on the front end, the less they’ll feel the need to get quote after quote on the back end.

Had I not had such a prolific, content driven website, Bob clearly would still be in the ‘shopping mode’. He’d still be gathering facts and attempting to reach a comfortable decision about where to spend his $50,000. But in this case, Bob saw so much value from our company up front that it filled in all those voids by the time I’d shown up at his doorstep.

The Challenge

So here is the challenge that we all have as sales and marketing professionals. We must truly see the big picture when it comes to Web 2.0. We must start thinking like consumers and answer their questions. We must constantly feed them answers and show them we are the true experts and consumer advocates in our field. Yes, such a challenge is not necessarily an easy one, but it dang sure is possible if we are but willing to take the time and pay the price.

So stop delaying. Put more time into your content marketing. Make videos, and lots of them. Get active on the forums. Blog at least twice a week. Do customer surveys and have your ear to the ground. By so doing you will in time not only be the voice of your industry, but you’ll also drastically speed up the sales process even in these rather difficult economic times we are all living in.

As always, I’d invite you to leave your thoughts below, whether you agree or disagree. Thanks for being a part of the conversation.

If you liked this article, you may also like: