What To Do After Losing A Sale

Let's say you meet with a prospect that recognizes they have a problem, have the money to address it and want to solve it. More importantly, you know you have the perfect solution for them, so you submit a proposal that meets 100% of their needs. Naturally, you feel excited about your proposal. Getting this sale would increase your personal income, your credibility in the market and help you close more business.

Then You Get The Dreaded Call.

When you answer the phone, your point of contact informs you they selected someone else for a number of reasons. After the call, you lean back in your chair and wonder why they didn't select your proposal. Moreover, as a competitive salesperson, you reflect upon what you could have done differently. Sure, you are disheartened, but the key is to learn from the experience. After all, learning from our failures is the best way to increase the likelihood of future success.

What Questions Do You Need To Ask Yourself After Losing A Sale?

You need to regard losing a sale as a lesson in life. The loss of a sale usually comes down to two issues: RISK and VALUE. Below are a number of questions designed to help address these two areas and help put things into perspective.

1. Questions That Deal With A Buyer's Risk:

• What could we have done to reduce their risk in buying from us?
• How could we have established trust, credibility and brand recognition before, during and after the initial face-to-face sales call?
• Did this company just learn of us before the initial sales call?
• What type of marketing collateral could we have used to reduce their risk in buying from us?
• Could we have improved our proposal?
• Could we have improved the selling process?
• Would it have helped to integrate other people (operations, customer service, etc.) into the sales process to build confidence in our company?
• Would it have made sense for this company to see our operation before the sales call?

2. Questions That Deal With Value To A Buyer:

• Did we solicit their help in building a proposal before we submitted pricing?
• Did we establish the cost of their problem to their business?
• Did we show them the ROI from our solution to their problem?
• Could we have asked better business and financial questions during the sales call?
• Could we have improved our marketing material?
• Did we ask them what their goals and/or expectations with buying from us were?
• Did we determine what it would mean financially if they solved this problem?
• Did we ask what they did to solve this problem prior to contacting us, and if they did anything, why they are considering an alternate solution?
• Are we offering a three-tiered pricing model (people can process up to three options - any more and it becomes complicated)?

3. Questions To Ask About Your Selling Process:

• Are we setting up a predetermined time to discuss the final proposal with its recipient?
• Are we measuring our wins and losses (proposals closed)?
• If we lose a sale, are we learning whom they chose instead of us?
• Are we quantifying our competitors' pricing via spreadsheet so we can determine the percentage difference?
• Are we measuring our close ratio (proposals sent to proposals closed) per salesperson?

Executive Summary: You can learn more about your sales process, your competition and your proposal process if you take the time to reflect on what happened before, during and after a lost sale - or after a win, too. Every engagement can be a learning experience if you explore the experience thoroughly.