8 Reasons to Walk Away from an Opportunity

One of the most difficult things for a sales team to do is walk away from a selling opportunity. There are a number of reasons that stand out:

1. I don’t want my boss to think I can’t win, I’m not a quitter.
2. My pipeline is not that great and I don’t want to decrease the amount, yet.
3. I have a good reason but I haven’t documented the opportunity very well in CRM, I might not be able to answer all the questions I’m going to get ask.
4. I hate to walk away from potential money.
5. I think I can push it to next quarter.

So, when is it time to walk away?

1. You can’t get to the decision maker(s), can’t move the opportunity forward.
2. You can’t get to the buyer(s), can’t move the opportunity forward.
3. You don’t have a champion.
4. Your solutions don’t meet the customer requirements, no matter how hard you try.
5. You are not the incumbent and it seems the customer is using you for price negotiations, they are resistant in providing information or access to key players.
6. No budget and the customer is not providing you the information on when budget might will be approved.
7. The RFP/RFI is clearly written by your competitor or heavily weighted in favor of your competitors.
8. Can’t get a meeting scheduled with the key players.

When you walk away, you are then able to focus on winnable opportunities and lead generation. Happy selling! I Would love to hear your feedback and when you make the determination to walk away.