Losing Your Prospect From the Start: Part II
Selfish
〰️
Too Slow
〰️
Too Short
〰️
Unclear
〰️
Overload
〰️
Unprepared
〰️
Selfish 〰️ Too Slow 〰️ Too Short 〰️ Unclear 〰️ Overload 〰️ Unprepared 〰️
Are you looking to be more effective as a presales Solution Engineer? Are you losing “winnable” deals? Are you frustrated by missed opportunities lost during presales in the sales cycle?
Selling complex software is a process. Presales Leader has an experienced team of solution engineers that comes with a combined 60+ years of combined Acumatica experience. This blog outlines some of what they learned!
This short blog, Part II in a series, explains common strategic errors that cause prospects to walk away from buying opportunities. If you haven’t read Part I, please do so before reading this blog! Let’s begin.
Error #1: Choosing Your Agenda Over Your Clients’
On one occasion, a prospect made it clear that their Accounts Payable (AP) process was a key problem harming their business: approvals were a mess, entry took forever, and everyone was unhappy. The VAR sales representative pushed Acumatica’s native solution for AP, even though it didn’t have all the functionality the prospect desired. It seemed very likely that an ISV would be better suited to the prospect’s stated needs. After demoing Acumatica’s native functionality (at the sales rep’s request), the prospect was thoroughly unimpressed. We eventually brought in the ISV that should’ve been involved from the start, but the damage had already been done. The prospect lost faith in our ability to listen to their needs and anticipate the best solution—we lost the prospect.
Error #2: Starting Too Slow
Executing a demo where you don’t show solutions to your prospect’s core issues is a fast way to lose a deal. Some VARs want the first demo with every prospect to be “a short overview demo showcasing the core functionality of Acumatica and establishing it as the single source of truth.” VARs wait to show specific solutions to problems the prospect voiced in Discovery until after “laying the foundation” in the first demo. Here is the problem: prospects leave the first demos thinking, “Wow, I saw absolutely nothing that interests me or gives me confidence that Acumatica actually can solve my problems.” More than occasionally, prospects cut off the process right there. The prospects who continue forward enter the next demos with skepticism instead of excitement. Starting behind and working uphill does not help win a deal.
It is better to show them the solutions in the first demo, even if it means diverging from your standard script, completing more prospect-specific prep, or booking a longer first demo.
Error #3: “Zoom Anxiety”
Some VARs insist on short meetings. Perhaps they don’t want to pay for many customer-facing hours (CFH), or they’re worried long meetings will scare customers. Whatever the case, the “short-meeting” strategy is counterproductive sometimes.
Firstly, splitting the sales process into many smaller meetings can increase the number of total CFH (e.g., we can accomplish this goal either in two 60-minute meetings or in one 90-minute meeting). Second, if the prospect isn’t willing to invest in a long meeting here and there, they’re probably not serious enough to invest $60k a year in software. If you want to win a deal, schedule the time you know you need to be successful.
Error #4: Leadership Confusion
When more than one person is in a meeting from the VAR, the VAR resources must be crystal clear about 1) whose meeting it is, 2) who is driving, and 3) who doesn’t speak unless the meeting owner pulls them in.
A live tug of war between VAR resources on a call prevents any of the VAR resources from getting what they need out of the call or achieving their goals for the call. That power struggle also makes the VAR team look fractured and disjointed—which is absolutely not a good look. Your team needs to exude unity and professionalism—a vibe that communicates, “We can implement a complex software package for your complex business.”
Here is a good rule of thumb: at any one time, only one teammate is standing up at the front of the room, and that person has total control of the meeting—no matter what. If other people have something to add, though, they signal that innocuously using a signal agreed upon beforehand, like the position of their pencil on the table, so that the leader knows that, if they want, they can ask, “[Teammate], do you have anything to add?”
Otherwise, having another presence in a physical room can be very helpful because the not-actively-demoing person can pay special attention to the crowd and draw them out if needed, so that the active demoer can focus on the demo and not the audience: “[CEO of the prospect], I saw some gears turning when [actively-demoing-teammate] mentioned [feature or impact]—is there anything you’d like to dig deeper on there?”
Error #5: Prospect Overloading
Usually, showing “all the options” is the wrong choice.
Sometimes it is appropriate to say, “Here are all the options, but this is my recommended solution, based on the thorough Discovery we’ve already had.” However, clients usually just want to see the best resolution to their problem. Explaining the eight ways you tried and failed to solve your prospect’s problem doesn’t instill confidence in them. Showing all the options is boring, time-wasting, or worse.
Error #6: Busy Season
Even experienced SEs can end up disoriented during very busy seasons, when the calendar is overflowing and prep time is hard to find. Ever start a call with a prospect, thinking they are a different prospect from a different industry? It has happened! Especially during busy season, reserve sufficient space in your schedule to study notes before calls. You would not want to confuse a Chinese tool importer with a US-based aluminum manufacturer…
Commitment to Excellence:
Fully qualified prospects are not a dime a dozen. Don’t lose prospects unnecessarily by making the strategic errors outlined above. Excellent presales is an art form that takes years to master. Commitment to continuous learning will accelerate your development of presales excellence. Would you like access to an experienced team of presales professionals? Start a conversation with us HERE.
TL;DR
Many “winnable” presales deals are lost due to avoidable strategic mistakes.
Prioritizing your agenda over the client’s stated needs erodes trust quickly.
Waiting too long to show solutions to a prospect’s core problems kills momentum.
Forcing short meetings often backfires and signals lack of seriousness or confidence.
Unclear leadership or internal power struggles during calls make teams look disorganized.
Showing too many options overwhelms prospects; they want clear recommendations.
Poor preparation—especially during busy seasons—undermines credibility and focus.
