A while ago (Feb 2005 actually) I posted on the concept of Yellow Flags–those parts of the sales process that are “cause for pause” for the salesperson. Raise The Yellow Flag Post
A yellow flag might be your prospect saying, “We’re going to look very closely at price” or “John will have a little influence but not much so you don’t need to talk to him” or other such nonsense.
Batch The Flags
But in long selling cycles/complex sales, there might be dozens of yellow flags throughout the cycle. My suggestion would be to batch them. Here’s how it works.
After every sales call, especially if you have a team that calls on the prospect at different levels, come back and “brainstorm yellow.” Meaning, talk about all the things each of you has heard from the client that are yellow flags–those things that might prohibit the sale from moving forward.
Use The Minds of Your Team
Get into a true “mind-share” attitude with your team. You’ll be amazed at the customer data you collect on the buying process. Then, make a list of all the things that your team senses might be roadblocks and bring them up to the customer in batches. Let’s say you have 10 things that your team senses could be yellow flags. The next time you’re speaking with your prospect, say, “I have several things that I’d like to talk to you about–things that have come up when we do our weekly team debriefing.” And then tell him the issues.
Yellow flags are things your prospect has to solve for you. Remember, it’s him/her that has the problem that he wants you to solve. Therefore, it’s up to them to get you comfortable–not just up to you to get him comfortable. As we say in our advanced sales courses, you’re the one that needs to be bringing up objections–not him. He needs to be selling you on why he’s committed to solving his problem.
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