A strong sales argument: The features I don't have.

It’s obvious: The better your product, the easier the sale. If you have ever sold anything, you acted accordingly. You polished, presented, explained, praised. Talking about all the beautiful things your product can do comes naturally to most sellers. What is far more difficult is talking about what your product cannot do. 

Saying NO to prospects when you want to just say YES

I explain product and features, quantify business value, highlight competitive advantages, and demonstrate how wonderfully my product will satisfy my prospect’s needs. It seems to go well. Then my prospect thinks, pauses, and says: “Ok, but it is important to me that your product  also does xyz, can you do that?” or “Other companies we are considering can do xyz, what about you?”. And I know we can’t. It usually feels awful. Everything inside me wants to SAY YES. Or at least something mushy like “I am sure we can make that work”. Or “I will have to check but I am confident that it can be done”. Or another of the hundreds of things I can say that are not a a no. Yet, I believe usually the best thing to say is ‘no, we cannot!’.

Why it is good to explain what you can’t do.

It builds trust. I believe that in making a sale, particularly a more complex sale as is typically the case in software, at least as important as features and performance or price is trust. Making a purchasing decision is always a risk, even when the price is low or zero. The buyer risks losing time, nerves, reputation, goodwill…  and often money. Therefore building trust is a key element of the sale. Brand name, references, testimonials, free trials are all typical elements that help in this regard. I find that explaining clearly the limitations of my product is another great way of building trust.

It calibrates what you say about your product, and makes your positive claims much more credible. Imagine a sales meeting or call where all you do is talk about the brilliant properties of your product, and in which you say yes to all requests and questions. Your prospect has no way of knowing if you always say yes, or whether you just happen to have the ‘perfectly suited’ product. 

It portrays your honesty and respect for your prospect. What is more honest than saying ‘I cannot provide or do this’? I believe that saying honestly and clearly where the limits of my products lie has often pleasantly surprised my prospects and helped me to build relationships with prospects. 

It sets you apart from many competitiors (at least in software). Particularly in enterprise software claiming too much and agreeing to every client request has been commonplace. This phenomenon has even produced terms like ‘Vaporware’ or ‘Shelfware’. Vaporware is software (features) that is sold despite the fact that it only exist in the minds of, errr, software salespeople for example. Shelfware is the result of projects that never made it into production. Yesterday I was on the website of a sales forecasting provider that claims 99% forecasting accuracy. Sure. That reads like “I take my customers for stupid but I take them for a ride”.

It gives you a great opportunity to educate your customer. Especially in cases where the requested capability is unrealistic, and competitor claims are sales BS, explaining the reasons behind the limits of your products is a great way of educating your prospect at the same time as debunking your competition without sounding aggressive or defensive. By giving your prospect more relevant concepts to understand, and questions to ask, you will make it more difficult for your competition to sell to this prospect. 

If you lose them, better lose them now... Unless you can and want to engage in selling Vaporware, it is in your interest to not waste time on a prospect that either has legitimate requirements or unwaveringly unrealistic expectations that your product does not meet. Particularly in SaaS where trials are the typical way customers evaluate a product, there is no hiding from the facts of what your product can deliver, even if you wanted to. It is better to bow out in a positive and constructive manner than spend your time on a low probability case.

....and they might just come back. It might just happen that reality hits your prospect and competition sooner or later.In this case, a vendor that has truthfully outlined the scope and limitations of his product might just become much more attractive.