Cons of Cherry-Picking: Why Ready Buyers Aren’t Always the Safest B2B Sales Bet
Just because a prospect is ready to buy doesn’t mean it’s your best target. Sometimes cherry picking can go sour.
In a post for SalesStaff’s B2B Appointment Setting Blog, Garrett Hollander identifies ready buyers as “prospects that meet all BANT criteria (Budget, Authority, Need, Time frame), and are on a short time frame to buy. They all but have their checkbooks out to ink a deal.” Though it may difficult to see past the dollar signs dancing in your head, there are reasons why these accounts may not be your best prospects, however.
For starters, “their buying criteria have probably been seriously influenced by your competitors,” Hollander suggests. If you’ve discovered them that far along in the process, your competition has likely discovered them as well, and you may end up sinking a lot of time and resources into a deal that, in the end, doesn’t have a lot of upside. For more on the potential pitfalls of cherry picking ready buyers, and how to foster prospects that aren’t quite as far along in the buying process, read Hollander’s full post here.
Related Content from OpenView:
In B2B sales, it’s crucial not only to know how far along your buyers are in the process, but truly understand who those buyers are in the first place. For tips on identifying buyer personas read this post from the OpenView Blog. And see this post for more advice on the ever-changing B2B buyer model.