Oops. What happened? He promised me the order.

Inc. Magazine had a very insightful article recently about a step that is often missed in the sales process.  ("The One Sales Step that Most Sales People Miss", by David Finkel).  You get the order, you go back to your office and celebrate with your colleagues.  Next day the customer calls you (if you're lucky) and tells you he gave the order to your competitor or that he decided he didn't need the product after all.  This has happened to every salesperson at least once.  What happened?  He promised you the order.

What could have happened was that your competitor was more aggressive than you.  He got a second look.  He went back and back again and made a better deal. You tell your boss that your "greedy" competitor took the order by "dumping the price". And you know that's not what happened.  You know he took the order by one-upping you.  He was last in and he could have taken it by just promising better service or by showing the customer he wanted the order more.

When a customer says you have the order, that is NOT the order--a promise to place the order is not the order.My wife, who spent her carreer in credit and collections, says an order is not an order until the customer's check has cleared.  I can't tell you how many times a salesperson has called me and said "I got it--I got the order".  And my response is always--you don't have the order.  You have a promise of an order.  So many things can happen after the customer promises you the order: your competitor one-ups you; your manufacturer can't deliver when the customer wants the order; your customer credit doesn't pass; etc. etc.

The lesson is simple: stay close to your customer all the way from the promise to the delivery to the payment.  Then, and only then, can you celebrate.

Finkel suggests a "post sell plan":  Make sure the customer is comfortable with his decision by making them feel good that they made the right decision.  Make sure there's no room for buyer's remorse or for testing the market with other suppliers. And make sure the customer knows what the process from now until shipment is.

To quote Finkel: "By strategically and systematically building in a 'post sale' step into your sales process, you'll keep more of the business that you would otherwise have lost through buyer's remorse" and other reasons.

Stay close to your customer until the product is paid for.  Then celebrate.