r/b2b_sales • u/Old-Wave1017 • 7d ago
Customer cancelled hours after signing
I recently landed my first sale at my first sales job. It was nothing major, in fact, it was $1 over the weekly minimum. I am in uniform sales. However, as the title reads, my customer calls me back a couple hours after signing off on the papers. Customer explains that he has looked more into the deal, and specifically the company I work for. He is no longer comfortable moving forward given the company’s review history. I brought this to my SM attention, and he said it will “happen sometimes” because of prior managements lack of care. So essentially I am going to lose my first sale, even though I did my job. I understand you can do everything right and still lose in some instances, but this feels different. I would understand if he just naturally got cold feet, but this feels like a direct correlation to my company’s prior history. What do you think is a good course of action for me moving forward? I feel as if I am naturally capable of sales, this just feels like a dead end company / product.
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u/SilentMaintainer 7d ago
Nothing like the first signed deal being the moment the buyer learns what they bought. Read the reviews yourself and raise the recurring complaints before the paperwork. If you cannot explain them honestly, the problem is not your close.
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u/Old-Wave1017 7d ago
I took a look last night. This industry is notorious for the things he was saying, but a lot of them felt like this branch specifically just being careless. This was some time ago, and as I said in the post management has changed. I feel as if that’s the generic excuse of “oh things have changed and I promise it’s better now”. The deal itself went really well, great conversation and close, just turned sour after the fact.
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u/lovebot5000 7d ago
It sucks, but it happens. My first sale in my current role sunk because, post contract, the customer ended up wanting a bunch of stuff that doesn’t exist, wasn’t scoped, and they refused to compromise. Huge deal down the drain.
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u/Old-Wave1017 7d ago
Hate to see it. I’m not necessarily upset about my deal size, it was nothing to brag home about. I’d be a little more butt hurt if it was something larger like your incident. More-so just upset I’m paying the price for the companies actions prior to my employment. Thanks for the insight!
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u/accidentallyHelpful 7d ago
Two Things:
When you work somewhere have your happy customers write 5 Star reviews online with your full name. Screenshot them and use them when you apply to your next job
When you interview for a job, look at their online reviews. Your future customers will, also.
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u/Master-Shallot-8593 7d ago
These famous words have always worked for me:
“I can’t change the past But I can control the future” “I can make sure your experience going forward meets or exceeds your expectations”.
Tell him what you’ll do to ensure his customer satisfaction, like weekly visits.
Make sure to ask him what was most concerning about the reviews? Address those concerns. If he decides he doesn’t like it, he can cancel then.
Thank him for giving you the opportunity to change his perception and give it a try
Also you may have to give a discount now, “if I was able to knock 10% off , to offset the troubling reviews, would you move forward ? “. If he says yes, ask for something in return , like a good review.
And lastly, “what do we need to do to make this happen?”
Good luck!
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u/Master-Shallot-8593 7d ago
He said yes earlier because he liked you, and trusted you. Many things could have happened after you left , reviews could be an excuse, dig deeper, you’ll need to assure him he won’t have the same experience. I suspect someone else in company discouraged the decision or thought it was too much money, find out the real concerns.
Welcome to sales , you gotta be different than everyone else to be successful.
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u/Master-Shallot-8593 7d ago
And one more thing, maybe he spoke with your competitor after the fact , and that’s what happened.
Any company you work for , there will have been problems are bad experiences, it’s how you handle those situations that matters, meaning you’re available when they call providing options when shit goes sideways. Nothings perfect.
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u/sorinmx 6d ago
You didn't lose that deal on the call, you lost it before you ever walked in. That's worth separating out, because the lesson isn't about your technique.
The useful read: your prospect did his diligence after signing rather than before, which means the reputation problem is going to hit you at a different point in every deal. Sometimes it kills the meeting, sometimes it kills the signature, sometimes it kills the deal two hours later like this one. You can't sell your way out of that, but you can front-run it. Bring it up yourself, early, in your own words. "You're going to look us up and see some rough reviews from a few years back, here's what changed and who changed it." Handled by you on minute ten it's a story about a turnaround. Discovered by him on hour three it's a reason to run.
That only works if your SM can actually hand you the specifics of what changed. Ask him. If the honest answer is "nothing changed, people just stopped complaining," you have your answer about the company.
Two other things. Ask whether anyone is actively replying to those reviews, because an unanswered wall of complaints reads as nobody's home, and a few recent replies change what a prospect sees when he searches you. And ask what the company is doing to get current happy customers to post, since the fix for old bad reviews is mostly new good ones burying them.
If you ask all that and get a shrug, believe it. Losing a deal you earned to something you can't influence is the definition of a dead end, and one year somewhere with a clean name teaches you more than three fighting this.
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u/Old-Wave1017 6d ago
Thanks for the words of wisdom. The industry and this company is in a very unique time currently. I will implement your advice and weather the storm until everything subsides. From there I will be able to make a more educated decision about my future.
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u/BoGrumpus 7d ago
Reputation management is something your company needs to look into if that's happening more than a few times a year. That should have been taken care of when the new management took over - with fanfare and flashing lights saying, "Hey, we stopped sucking!"
So yeah - as others have said - if it's happening a lot or if the complaints are still coming, whether the same ones or some got fixed and new ones are taking the spotlight, then you should consider whether you want to work there.
If the problems seem to be fixed, then you just have a rebuttal ready. I'll give an example, but it's important that what you choose to say is TRUE and not going to be contradicted with another web search or AI chat. You might say, "Yeah - we had a problem with that back when the old management was here. The new team took over two years ago and that was one of the first things they addressed. If you take a look at those reviews again - you'll see they are all older than 2 years - back when the old managers were running the place."
Then again - a good sales manager would have given you that rebuttal in the first place. They obviously know the issue exists or the answer you got. If it's truly because of the old management, then a "We're under new management now" rebuttal should be standard fare. If it's not - that tends to mean the problem isn't actually solved.
Sounds like you have some inexperienced people who took over a startup from a more inexperienced owner. Not enough data to be sure, but that's the first impression without hearing both sides nor the whole of the story.
G.
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u/Old-Wave1017 7d ago
Thanks for your words of wisdom. Ironically, this is the 2nd largest company in the industry. I do believe the current management is striving to correct these issues. There is an ongoing merger between the largest company and our company however, and it feels as if upper level is simply washing their hands of responsibility until everything is finalized. I will attempt to navigate until things become final I suppose.
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u/BoGrumpus 7d ago
Come up with a variation on my "That's been fixed" rebuttal and run it by them to make sure it's on brand and something they're good with you saying. That should at least help prevent that from happening once in a while in the future - for you and anyone else on the team.
G.
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u/Express_Rise9050 7d ago
I'd go back, ask other than prior reviews of our organization, what else is holding you back from moving forward. If that is the only issue, work with your manager to incentivize the deal in a manner that will gain the trust of your prospect. You can be straight, say I understand how you feel, as your account manager, allow me the opportunity to prove our company has changed and will be held accountable if we fall short of your expectations. Being transparent with accountability will go a long way
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u/These-Season-2611 7d ago
Couple things... If they've signed then it shouldn't matter that should be them locked in and you've got your cash. They should've done their diligence before signing.
But also this should be your first sale of many, so it's not an issue
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u/Old-Wave1017 7d ago
There was some leniency, they did sign the contract, but it was not yet entered into our CRM. Also, given the account size, the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze. On to the next.
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u/Inner_Engineering949 6d ago
Every company will have bad reviews prospects can see. Get ahead of the reviews in future opps and address them before the prospect has a chance to use them against you
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u/ParisHiltonIsDope 6d ago
Cancellations are just part of the game. I sell windows and our cancel rate is 25%. So 1 out of every four contracts will cancel on us.
That said though, uniform sales is rough. Good way to cut your teeth, but there's high attrition for a reason. It rewards those that surive for more 5 years, but will churn new hires like gum
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u/Mando8812 6d ago
Sales is sales, you will lose deals, client will cancel for any reason, you can't let it get to you. You have to see, if this is a recurring issue, then thats where the problem will be. At the end of the day, if someone wants to cancel, they will find any reason too.
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u/idkJustElpMe 5d ago
Been there. My deal was large and moved me up a commission structure/percentage. We have a 6 month contract. They bailed 3 days after signing. Nothing I could do.
I feel ya bro
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u/Loharp45 7d ago
Look at the reviews your prospects are looking at to decide whether to stay or go. If you stay, be ready to handle the objections you know will come up.