Why ZATO Doesn't Rush You Through Our Sales Process

There's a particular kind of sales process that I think most of us have experienced at some point, the kind that's built around speed and moving you down a controlled line as efficiently as possible. From what I've observed over the years, this approach is often intentionally designed to prevent the buyer from getting all of the relevant information they need, so the seller can close the deal around the buyer's lack of knowledge. And I'll just say it plainly... we hate that approach with everything in us at ZATO.

I could be wrong about this (I'm sure there are sales professionals who would push back hard on my framing), but it seems to me that this kind of process literally requires a loser and a winner. Someone walks away with more than they should have, and someone walks away with less than they realized. We reject the idea that this is the "necessary way that sales should work," and we've built our whole approach around a different conviction.

Here's how ZATO thinks about it: our objective in any sales conversation is for both parties to clearly identify what they bring to the table, and then figure out an arrangement that makes both of them genuinely happy. There may be compromises along the way (there usually are), but those compromises should happen because both sides chose them with full information... not because someone was rushed past the questions that would have changed their mind.

This means we don't mind a slower sales process. In fact, we kind of prefer it. Our hope is that you choose our services because you genuinely believe what we offer is what you need, at a price that makes sense to you given the value we're providing. If you don't think that's the case, we'd actually rather you not sign with us, because a client who feels uncertain about value at the start tends to feel resentful about it six months in, and nobody wins in that scenario.

Now, fair warning (and I'll say this with a smile)... this philosophy cuts both ways. If you come to the table as a buyer trying to devalue our fair pricing, you'll likely offend us a little ;) That tells us you're approaching the conversation without wanting what we want, which is for both of us to win. You're trying to take advantage of our team's expertise below the value it's actually worth, and from where we sit, that's just the same broken sales dynamic flipped in the other direction.

What we love (and this is genuinely the best part of doing business) is connecting with other companies who understand that the discovery process is about both sides winning, with some honest compromise along the way. Those are the partnerships that last. Those are the relationships where the work is actually good, because everyone showed up wanting the other party to thrive.

So if you're looking for a fast pitch and a hard close, we're probably not your team. But if you want a real conversation where both of us walk away genuinely glad we found each other... that's exactly the kind of work ZATO was built for.

‍