We have all been there when the phone rings and your talking to a prospect and everything is going great, the scope is ideal, Start date is perfect, and location is outside the sweet spot. The thoughts run through your head....UH....I...DONT KNOW.
How do you handle this?
I have both good and not so good experience working out of the sweet spot.
I weigh the options really good before submitting proposal:
- Who will I be working for? Existing customers referrals might get me there, new customer non referral questionable.
- Will this interrupt any other jobs? How many additional resources will be needed to make project deadlines? In addition, will this effect other jobs in progress and on calendar?
- Do you have connections outside your sweet spot? Supply houses, Tradesman, and Equipment are the biggest obstacles that I came across when working out of area.
- Supervision. This is what I failed to account for. My usual route did not include the long distance ride. When on site questions needed to be answered I had to rush, leaving other local jobs to answer the questions.
- Completion Schedule. How much more time do I need to allot for? I missed some deadlines and over extended my team and resources to complete in a timely manner. I barely salvaged the job and my referral partner was not excited about my performance.
In the end you will need to decide if this project is worth the price you might have to pay. The referral partner relationship that will be tested if you don't execute.
The above picture shows my sweet spot and two jobs that came up yesterday. Both profitable and got me thinking.
The first thing I did was start making calls to see if I had connections in the area-Answer NO.
Second was Google suppliers and equipment in the area-Answer YES
I had a talk with my senior team members and went over scopes. I personally did not accept either project once I weighed the top 5 questions.
Give me your thoughts on how you handle these sales situations?
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