Non-disclosure agreements have an important place in the world.
Intellectual property is something many businesses rely on to exist with an advantage over the competition.
Salespeople for these businesses often have the challenge of showing what their solution can do without sharing the “secret sauce”.
In order to convince an eTail prospect about the product or service, it’s often necessary to take them behind the curtain. But this runs the risk of exposing the key intellectual property.
To add a layer of protection, NDAs are used.
The thing with NDAs, though, is that Internet managers hate them…
No Time
If your ideal eTail customer is a small business you’re likely working with the owner or the head of marketing.
These people are some of the busiest in the world. They wear many hats in the company and have little time to talk with vendors.
Even if the owner wants to discuss an opportunity with you they might not be able to find time in their schedule.
Requiring an eTail prospect to sign an NDA puts pressure on the process. They’re already busy. Making them take time to read your agreement, sign it and scan it over to you just for a conversation makes getting a conversation much more unlikely.
Up The Chain Hassle
If your ideal eTailer customer is a medium to large firm you’re probably communicating with Internet managers.
These folks dislike NDAs too.
Managers are busy, but an even more important item is the fact that they have to take NDAs and other agreements up the chain for approval. This process is never fun especially when it’s just for a simple product or service pitch.
If you ask for an NDA agreement the manager is likely to move on to the next option.
Pitching Without NDAs
Your eTailer prospects, especially early in the sales process, are looking for case studies and results. As a salesperson, your best bet is to work with your company to create case studies you can share with the public.
These make for great discussion points during your pitches with prospects. You won’t have to share your “secret sauce” at this point and when things go well you can discuss NDAs further down the line when the prospect is more interested in the solution and more likely to put in the effort to sign the agreement.
NDAs are very important to a lot of businesses, but they cause issues for salespeople. Find ways to work around NDAs and you’ll find that your sales opportunities grow and become more successful.