Ten Meetings, Two Quotes, Zero Sales: Where Is Your Sales Process Going Wrong?

You have made the calls, attended the meetings and sent the quotations. One prospect said your price looked reasonable but needed to speak to a partner. Another promised to respond by Friday. Friday came and went. You are still waiting for your first order. For a small business, this is time you could have spent serving existing customers, finding new ones or getting on with the work that pays the bills.

The first reaction is often to contact more people. But if you keep getting meetings without making sales, it is worth looking at what happens between introducing your business and asking someone to pay for what you offer.

Some meetings were never going to lead to a sale

A person agreeing to meet you does not necessarily mean they need your service. They might be curious about what you do. They might be checking prices for their boss. They could even be happy with their current supplier but willing to hear what another company has to offer.

Consider a small business that sells office cleaning services. The owner spends time preparing a quotation for a company that already has a cleaning contract running for another eight months. The company likes the price but has no reason to switch suppliers now. That was a meeting, but it was never an immediate sales opportunity.

Before committing time to a prospect, ask whether they are looking for a supplier, when they need the service and whether they have money set aside for it. You do not need to interrogate people. A few straightforward questions can tell you whether it makes sense to pursue the conversation.

Find out what the customer actually wants

Some business owners spend so much time explaining their products that they barely ask the customer any questions. You could spend 30 minutes describing your services and still leave without knowing why the customer agreed to meet you.

Try asking what they are struggling with and how they deal with it now. If they already use another supplier, find out what they would change about the arrangement. A business selling accounting services, for example, might assume a customer needs help with bookkeeping. The customer might actually be struggling to collect outstanding invoices or understand why there is never enough cash at the end of the month.

Those are different problems, and the solution will not necessarily be the same. You do not have to sell every service to every person. If what you offer does not address the customer's problem, it may be better to say so than push for a deal that is unlikely to work.

Why did the customer ask for a quotation?

Getting a request for a quotation feels like progress, especially when you have spent weeks trying to get a foot in the door. But some customers ask for prices from several businesses without having approval to spend the money. Others are comparing suppliers or preparing a budget for a project that may only happen months later. Before putting a quotation together, ask when the customer wants the work done and what needs to happen before an order can be placed.

Once you send it, arrange a time to discuss the price and any questions. If the customer goes quiet, follow up and ask whether something is holding up the decision. You might learn that the price is outside their budget, that another supplier has won the job or that the project has been postponed. That information is more useful than sending another email asking whether they have seen your quotation.

Cutting your price may not save the deal

When a customer says your price is too high, it is tempting to offer a discount immediately. Small businesses often do this because they are worried the customer will go elsewhere. But what if the problem is not the price? The customer might not understand what is included, might be comparing your offer with a cheaper service or might simply not have enough money available.

Ask what they had budgeted for and what they are comparing your offer against. If their budget is lower, consider whether you can offer less work at a lower price. A web developer, for instance, could start with a basic website and add online payments or other features later. The customer gets a service they can afford, while the developer avoids doing the full job for less than it costs to deliver. A sale is not automatically a good sale. You still need to make money from the work.

The person you met may not be the person who buys

You can have a productive meeting with someone who likes your service, only to discover that they need permission from someone else before placing an order. This is common when selling to larger companies. A department manager may need approval from finance, procurement or a senior executive. The business might also require supplier registration before it can work with you.

Ask how purchasing decisions are made and who needs to approve the deal. If another person needs to be involved, find out whether your contact can arrange an introduction. It is better to understand the process at the start than spend weeks following up with someone who cannot move the purchase forward.

Keep a record of the deals that go nowhere

You do not need to buy sales software to work out why customers are not buying. Start with a spreadsheet. For every prospect, record who you spoke to, what they needed, whether they had a budget, what you quoted and what happened afterwards. If a deal falls through, note the reason where you know it. After a few weeks, look at the results.

Perhaps most of the people you approached were not looking to buy. Maybe your prices were outside their budgets. You could be sending quotations to people who need approval from someone else, or following up too late. These are different problems. Knowing which one you face helps you decide what to change.

If you keep losing deals on price, review your pricing and what you include. If prospects are not ready to buy, change how you identify and approach them. If you cannot reach decision makers, reconsider whom you contact.

When is it time to move on?

Some customers need a few weeks to make a decision. Others will keep promising to get back to you without taking things further. Follow up, but set a limit. If a prospect has stopped responding after several attempts, send one final message asking whether the project is still going ahead. Then concentrate on other opportunities. There is no point spending a month chasing one possible sale while ignoring five other businesses that might actually need your service.

Ten meetings, two quotations and no sales do not tell you exactly what is wrong. But they are a reason to look more closely at the people you are approaching, the conversations you are having and what happens after you send your prices. Before filling next week's calendar with more meetings, go back through the ones you have already had. Find out which customers were serious, where they lost interest and whether there was something you could have done differently. You may discover that you do not need more meetings. You need to spend less time on the wrong ones.