Sales Inspections

(originally Published on October 24, 2019 via LinkedIn)

While sitting on a delayed flight (a common hazard in our line of work), I happened to look out my window to see a pilot on the ground performing a routine check of his aircraft. As he walked by and under the wing of the jet, he inspected the edges, bolts, and flaps through sight and touch. He proceeded to step purposefully to the landing gear and wheels and contorted into a position that was obviously not comfortable but necessary to view the interior components. He then made his way to the back of the plane and continued his visual and physical inspection. His pace and comfort demonstrated this was an activity he performs every single time to best prepare for a flight in which he will be leading. As a passenger, it made me feel very comfortable to witness this routine taking place, and I can only assume this happens before each journey I take as well. 

This experience happened just days after a Saturday morning where I joined other parents invited to a Police Explorer meeting (a monthly program consisting of high school students interested in law enforcement that is a component of the BSA). My son, along with other teens/almost adults, participated (one might say performed) a group formation and mini PT session for the parents. During this formation, direct instructions were given and inspections of each Explorer occurred. The commanding officer performed a visual inspection, front and back, of the uniform ensuring all components were in their proper place and neat: two pens in the left breast pocket, badge alignment, shined shoes, ironed and well fitting shirt, etc. If anything was out of place, it was the commanding officers duty to inform the Explorer how to immediately remedy the situation. These inspections happen at the beginning of every meeting and I can confirm that it has taught my son to be well-prepared for every Explorer event. Imagine the joy I feel not having to remind him of the one-out-of-one-hundred things he may forget!

"do we as sales people perform the same routine inspections of our opportunities"

After witnessing these two events it occurred to me; do we as sales people perform the same routine inspections of our opportunities before we take the next action to move the sale forward and obtain a firm future commitment from our prospects? If a pilot notices a loose bolt, that can be remedied quickly to avoid potential disaster. If a commanding officer notices a missing badge, that can be remedied quickly to avoid confusion in personnel. What if we as sales professionals notice a missing buyer action? We can remedy that quickly in our next touch point to avoid extending the sales cycle, assuming understanding, or losing a sale due to a missed timeline. 

My team has a checklist to help determine which seller actions should be taken, and which buyer outcomes should have been achieved in order to place an opportunity in its proper stage. It isn’t a long list but can be vital in ensuring you are where you “think” you are in the sales process. Each sales stage has its seller actions and buyer outcomes that upon completion, determine if the opportunity is ready to move to its subsequent stage, with new actions and outcomes until ultimately reaching closed-won status. A routine inspection of an opportunity should take mere seconds, but those moments could prove critical to the increasing close rates and quota attainment.

Upon inspection of a specific opportunity, one of my team members realized he had not confirmed budget with the prospect; a critical piece of information and a conversation that needs to happen to determine at which stage the opportunity resides. This was a missing seller action and buyer outcome and was remedied by becoming priority for the next conversation. If this step had been missed, the sales path may have flowed to a point where the buyer wants the solution, but can’t afford it, thereby causing a waste of time, energy, and resources on the part of both the seller and buyer. 

Let’s make sure that our prospects feel comfortable on the journey we lead through the sales process by performing our own opportunity inspections before our next seller action takes place.