Austin business journal austin tx

How to Make an Unsuccessful Sale a Good Learning Experience

Description:

Losing a deal can be difficult, however learning from the experience can reap huge rewards. Successfully using what you did incorrectly can change future outcomes if addressed correctly.

Content:

Everyone has experienced the sales blues, when everything seems perfect and you are confident the sale is going to close until you hear the words, "sorry, we're going ahead with someone else." It is important that we take the emotion out of the sales loss and learn something for it, in order to learn from our mistakes and create more successful closes in the future. Always remember that you cannot always control what happened to close the lost sale, but you can chose your response. The success of your sales future is made by these choices, it is important that you make the right ones.

When you've lost a sale, it is good to go through the following steps:

1)Be a hero-try with lots of digging to save the sale, if possible until you've determined that the deal is dead. Amazingly, studies indicate that 75% of deals lost can be resurrected if the salesperson will continue to be upbeat and persistant.

2)Find out why. This information is essential because it can help you get better and make the loss give you a return on investment for your future deals.

Be direct with the customer and ask: "What could I have done differently to earn your business? You won't hurt my feelings, it'll help me to continue to improve." Then do something with the response you receive.

3)Continue to stay in touch with the contact. Frequently, the customer/prospect will rethink their decision to go to another provider right after their purchase. Keep your name in front of them and in your mailing list. It pays to check back and see how they are being treated by the new organization, you never know when they may need to make a change.

4)Sincerely thank them for their time by sending a card. Guaranteed this will differentiate you from 99% of all salespeople out there.

If the current provider has not done this, it puts you and your organization at a much higher level in the event they should decide to make a change.

5)Ask for referrals. Don't hesitate to ask for a referral, just because they didn't buy from you doesn't mean they aren't aware of others who could benefit from your services/products. In addition, you also keep the lines of communication open with the customer you lost the sale with.

6)Move on to the next opportunity. View it as a learning opportunity and don't take it personally. Know the law of numbers and the sale lost just puts you closer to your next sale.

Finally, keep in mind that you have no choice about what happens to you but by choosing the best response you will enable yourself to experience success in future deals.

Author: Tim Hagen

About Author:

Tim Hagen, President of Sales Progress LLC, builds programs to help organizations increase sales. He has been doing this for 21 years and has helped both small and large size organizations increase their bottom line. He can be reached at http://www.SalesProgress.com or 262-240-1077.

---

Random related phrase:

austin business journal austin tx

Misspelled random related phrase:

aaustin business journal austin tx, ustin business journal austin tx, auustin business journal austin tx, astin business journal austin tx, ausstin business journal austin tx, autin business journal austin tx, austtin business journal austin tx, ausin business journal austin tx, austiin business journal austin tx, austn business journal austin tx, austinn business journal austin tx, austi business journal austin tx, austin business journal austin tx, austinbusiness journal austin tx, austin bbusiness journal austin tx, austin usiness journal austin tx, austin buusiness journal austin tx, austin bsiness journal austin tx, austin bussiness journal austin tx, austin buiness journal austin tx, austin busiiness journal austin tx, austin busness journal austin tx, austin businness journal austin tx, austin busiess journal austin tx, austin busineess journal austin tx, austin businss journal austin tx, austin businesss journal austin tx, austin busines journal austin tx, austin businesss journal austin tx, austin busines journal austin tx, austin business journal austin tx, austin businessjournal austin tx, austin business jjournal austin tx, austin business ournal austin tx, austin business joournal austin tx, austin business jurnal austin tx, austin business jouurnal austin tx, austin business jornal austin tx, austin business jourrnal austin tx, austin business jounal austin tx, austin business journnal austin tx, austin business joural austin tx, austin business journaal austin tx, austin business journl austin tx, austin business journall austin tx, austin business journa austin tx, austin business journal austin tx, austin business journalaustin tx, austin business journal aaustin tx, austin business journal ustin tx, austin business journal auustin tx, austin business journal astin tx, austin business journal ausstin tx, austin business journal autin tx, austin business journal austtin tx, austin business journal ausin tx, austin business journal austiin tx, austin business journal austn tx, austin business journal austinn tx, austin business journal austi tx, austin business journal austin tx, austin business journal austintx, austin business journal austin ttx, austin business journal austin x, austin business journal austin txx, austin business journal austin t