How do you close on the fence clients?

How do you close on the fence clients?

They sounded so enthusiastic.  
You really thought they were going to sign the contract.  
But they never actually do.  

And it's getting embarrassing sending the follow up emails and making those "how are you doing?" calls.  
In fact, it feels like you're pushing them away.  

That's because you are.  

Clients are on a journey.  
1) "We don't have a problem"
2) "Oh, we do have a problem"
3) "We're trying to find the best solution"
4) "We know how we want it fixing, now we're trying to find someone to help us"
5) "Where do I sign?"

Just because they sound enthusiastic doesn't mean that they're at stage five.  
In fact, they're probably still at stage 3!

That's right - they're enthusiastic because they've gone from despair (stage 2) to elation (stage 3) as they realise that the problem they have has lots of solutions.  

But they're still at stage 3.  

They still have a long way to go.  

So don't push so hard.  

You just need to meet them again later on.

Rahoul Baruah

Rahoul Baruah

Rubyist since 1.8.6. I like hair, dogs and Kim/Charli/Poppy. Also CTO at Collabor8Online.
Leeds, England