When the right sales decision is “you shouldn’t buy this yet”
When a customer asks for a service we can provide, the commercial instinct is to scope it, price it and close the deal. Over time I’ve become more careful about the step before that: working out what the customer is actually trying to achieve.
An automation request that needed a different conversation
One engagement was with a payment-processing company that wanted more test automation. The team was using an expensive UI automation tool, and maintaining the tests had become hard work. The real difficulties were the team’s skills, which scenarios they chose to automate, their test data, and whether the whole approach could last.
Adding more automation on top of that would have left those problems in place. We recommended rethinking where automation belonged, moving to API automation where it made sense, building the team’s programming skills, and using expertise the organization already had.
The team went on to build an automation capability it could sustain itself. What I took from it applies well beyond automation: the solution a customer asks for shows how they understand the problem today, and that understanding isn’t always the best guide to what will help.
Diagnose before recommending
I try to understand the outcome the customer wants, what they’ve already tried, and what they’ll be able to support once we’ve delivered. Sometimes they need some preparation before the service makes sense. Sometimes a smaller piece of work is enough. Sometimes another provider is a better fit.
Saying any of that can make a sales conversation harder. It usually makes it more useful too. The customer should be able to follow the reasoning behind a recommendation, including what we don’t know yet and which assumptions have to hold.
Trust is worth something commercially
I believe that telling a customer not to buy something yet builds a stronger relationship over time. It doesn’t guarantee future revenue, and we still have to build a financially healthy company. It’s a choice about how we want to earn that revenue.
The way I try to work is to diagnose, explain, recommend and then deliver. I’m still learning how to keep that consistent as selling moves from me to a wider team. A customer being ready to buy isn’t, on its own, a good enough reason for us to sell.
