"Friend zone" is a popular term that refers to a situation where one person wants a romantic relationship, as opposed to another who only wants friendship.
It happens a lot. And it can last for years of suffering.
Analogously in corporate business we could have a term like "waste zone" where one person wants to do business while the other just wants to pass the time but simulates commercial interest.
This simulation comes in the form of requests for proposals, meetings, presentations, all to deceive you that you are really interested in buying what you have to offer.
I call these people speculative leads. They are not speculative out of spite. It is the nature of business. In any case, you need to avoid them before you fall into the waste zone.
There are many signs that you are in that zone with some speculative lead.
The main thing is that situation that "drags on" for months. Get out as soon as possible. When I say get rid of, I mean eliminate from your radar, extirpate from your CRM, and don't look, don't even think about this "opportunity" anymore.
Another sign, very embryonic, is when the lead doesn't really know what he wants and drags you on a back and forth journey asking you to change scopes, objectives, goals, and everything else that involves a business proposal. Get out as soon as possible.
Now, one of the biggest culprits of falling into the "waste zone" is ourselves and our fuzzy positioning.
It happens a lot in the service industry. Speculative leads love a company that presents itself as a "solver of all ills in area X" and uses a "come hear your needs to present you with the best solution" approach methodology. They live in the "waste zone".
You need to dedicate your time to those who deserve it, that is, to those who really need and (recognize this need) for you and your products and services.
