I am talking to every sales rep, SDR, BDR, Sales Manager, Head of Sales.
Spoiler alert: YOU’RE GOING TO LOSE DEALS! Yes, you are no matter how good you are. How good your company is. How great your product is.
Therefore, you can take these losses two ways.
1). Cry and play the blame game. This is the tactic I see many sales people take. How about this? sometimes you just get outsold, period.
There is a professional sales rep at your competition that is selling against you, remember that.
Also, stop this nonsense, right now. Not only is you crying and blaming not helping you, you’re most likely burning bridges internally with your finger pointing. And when you need these people they will not be there to help because they are afraid of the backlash if the deal falls apart.
2), This is only one way to handle this. Close win the deal. OR make sure you learn from your loss.
Don’t complain, don’t blame anyone. Just learn. Ask the prospect for feedback, and DO NOT try and sell, just listen to what they have to tell you of why they selected something else other than what you were offering.
Write down the take aways from the conversation if you are fortunate enough to have it. And read them…multiple times
Dissect your internal actions:
How did this become a lead, inbound by you or the SDR?
How long was the sales cycle?
Who do you get involved internally and when?
Think back to the first call with the prospect, did you really care to learn about their situation and problems? Or did you just pitch?
BE HONEST with yourself!!!
Did you try to take a shortcut or neglect?
This information you gather from the above exercise if done honestly, could be more valuable than winning the deal.
Yes, more valuable. How so? Because if you learn from this loss and understand what you could have done better and differently, you will win more business down the road. much more!
Lastly, just because you lost a deal doesn’t mean you will never win that client. It means for the short term 1 or 2 years they will work with someone else. But you have that time to continue building a relationship, understanding their issues, provide value, and be a resource.
When that contract is up with their current vendor, they should have a hard time just renewing. given the fact that you have stayed in the picture and relevant.
Play the long game in sales with prospects and clients.
Don’t ever LOSE. WIN the deal or LEARN from the loss!
