It happens to every sales person at least once. You feel like you’re right on the verge of making the big sale when suddenly the customer starts reacting in a certain way and you know you’re losing the sale. When this happens to you, you need to sit back and take a good long look at the whole process. Identify where things might have gone wrong and why you found yourself losing a sale. Here are five questions you need to ask yourself.
1. Were you totally prepared? Sometimes it’s hard to know at exactly what point you’re losing a sale. You need to go back to the very beginning and determine whether you were adequately prepared. Ask yourself if you were completely sure of the client’s needs. Did you find out exactly what the client was looking for? Did you have the necessary information to develop a presentation or proposal which demonstrated to the client you completely understood their needs? Was your product knowledge sufficient to begin with? Losing a sale can happen at the very beginning of the process and you need to look back to your very first encounter to determine where things may have gone wrong.
2. How did your initial contact go? You can find yourself losing a sale from the very first contact. Try to think what was said at your very first meeting. Did you miss some important information? Losing a sale at the initial contact is more likely due to something you said or did the customer didn’t like. You may still be asked to make a presentation, and even submit a proposal. But it’s hard to get past a bad first impression. Think about everything from your original greeting to how the client reacted to you. When losing a sale, think about whether something felt wrong from the very beginning.
3. Was your proposal right? If you did learn the needs of the client, did you present your proposal in such a way it was clear you understood what they wanted? Losing a sale in this part of the process can be fairly common. Perhaps your presentation was too generic and, while it may have covered all of the basics of what you have to offer, it may not have been specific enough to the client’s actual needs. What was your impression of feedback or body language of the client during your presentation? When making a presentation, it can sometimes be obvious you’re losing a sale. In addition to product information, you’re also projecting a personal and a company image. Think back to every part of your presentation from how you were dressed to how you responded to questions.
4. Why do you think the client said no? Again, look back at the entire process. Did the client ask questions? If so, did you answer appropriately? If the customer went with another company, look at the company and see what the differences were between your product and theirs. You can also ask yourself about other companies who may not have gotten as far as you did before losing a sale. Looking at those companies can show you where you were stronger and where you may need to focus more in the future.
5. Now what? It is often hard to accept losing a sale. And it is certainly appropriate to ask the client why they said no. In fact, the only way you can work on avoiding losing a sale in the future is to find out why you lost this one. Most clients will give you some idea as to why they went with someone else. Use this information to improve or correct any areas where you were lacking.
It’s tough losing a sale, but it happens to everyone. The key to future success is to learn from the loss by reviewing what went wrong and making appropriate changes for the future.
