Don’t Let Sales Prospects Drift Off
When you lose a sales opportunity, it sucks – and most people go off and work on other opportunities in their pipeline. Some of you might even remove that prospect from your database, deciding they are someone who just doesn’t get it – because if they did get it, they would have bought from you and not chosen another vendor, like they apparently did.
Sometimes when we lose a sales opportunity, we take it hard. We think the decision to not work with us is a personal one; that by not getting the business, we are somehow less. It could be that little voice inside your head saying, “See? I told you so!”
Losing a deal is not personal, and I could probably spend an entire blog on that subject – but today, I want to talk about strategies for when you lose a deal. What should you do with that prospect? The first thing I want you to realize is that, providing you have correctly done your qualifying in the beginning, you still have someone who is a good fit for your business. So we don’t want to just throw that away.
Do A Lost Sales Post Mortem
Do a post mortem with the prospect to determine why you lost that deal. I usually wait a few weeks and call the prospect back. I set this up at the same time I first got the news I had lost the opportunity. Here is what I do and say after I have been told they are going in another direction:
“I understand – and thank you for letting me know. I am wondering if I might ask a small favour? May I call you back in a couple of weeks and have a five-minute conversation with you on why you decided to not go with us? I would just like to get your feedback after the dust settles, to see what we can improve on and do differently. Would that be okay? How does Tuesday, May 2nd at 2pm work?”
Now a couple things are going on here. First, I think people feel bad about telling you they chose someone else, so granting a little favour seems like the least they can do. Second, follow up with that prospect and hard schedule the specific time and date. In all my years of using this approach, only one person has declined to spend 5 minutes on the phone with me. So, it is likely that your prospect will agree to it.
What to Ask Sales Prospects
When you call back, you are going to want to find out the following information:
- Who did they choose to work with on the project?
- The major reasons why they went in that direction?
- The reasons they decided to not use your solution?
- Things you could have done differently that might have improved your chances of winning the business.
Before I get off the phone with them, I ask one more question – and it’s a critical one: “How is the project going?” I want to make sure I ask this, because things often change and you might be surprised at how honest prospects will be. I always make this simple offer, no matter if the project is going well or not: “If you ever need someone to take an objective outside look at it, or you want to bounce some ideas around, I would be happy to help.”
Not everyone takes me up on this offer, but some do. This simple offer accounts for at least an extra 4 or 5 deals a year. Why? Because I am the first call when their project starts going sideways – as an impartial third-party, I am also armed with the information of what caused me to lose the deal in the first place.
Lost Sales Prospects Check-in Routine
Move that prospect into a check-in routine, so that you will be reminded to make a telephone call to them about every four weeks to see how things are going. This person had everything you wanted in a client (except the good sense to pick you the first time), so you’ll want to stay in touch more often while their project or problem is a priority. As time goes on, however, I start spacing the calls a little further apart – but I still make sure that I am checking in with them no less than 4 times a year.
This simple routine will help you find new opportunities amongst the ashes of previously-lost deals.
When you lose a sales opportunity, it sucks – and most people go off and work on other opportunities in their pipeline. Some of you might even remove that prospect from your database, deciding they are someone who just doesn’t get it – because if they did get it, they would have bought from you and not chosen another vendor, like they apparently did.
Sometimes when we lose an opportunity, we take it hard. We think the decision to not work with us is a personal one; that by not getting the business, we are somehow less. It could be that little voice inside your head saying, “See? I told you so!”
Losing a deal is not personal, and I could probably spend an entire blog on that subject – but today, I want to talk about strategies for when you lose a deal. What should you do with that prospect? The first thing I want you to realize is that, providing you have correctly done your qualifying in the beginning, you still have someone who is a good fit for your business. So we don’t want to just throw that away.
Do A Post Mortem
Do a post mortem with the prospect to determine why you lost that deal. I usually wait a few weeks and call the prospect back. I set this up at the same time I first got the news I had lost the opportunity. Here is what I do and say after I have been told they are going in another direction:
“I understand – and thank you for letting me know. I am wondering if I might ask a small favour? May I call you back in a couple of weeks and have a five-minute conversation with you on why you decided to not go with us? I would just like to get your feedback after the dust settles, to see what we can improve on and do differently. Would that be okay? How does Tuesday, May 2nd at 2pm work?”
Now a couple things are going on here. First, I think people feel bad about telling you they chose someone else, so granting a little favour seems like the least they can do. Second, follow up with that prospect and hard schedule the specific time and date. In all my years of using this approach, only one person has declined to spend 5 minutes on the phone with me. So, it is likely that your prospect will agree to it.
What to Ask
When you call back, you are going to want to find out the following information:
- Who did they choose to work with on the project?
- The major reasons why they went in that direction?
- The reasons they decided to not use your solution?
- Things you could have done differently that might have improved your chances of winning the business.
Before I get off the phone with them, I ask one more question – and it’s a critical one: “How is the project going?” I want to make sure I ask this, because things often change and you might be surprised at how honest prospects will be. I always make this simple offer, no matter if the project is going well or not: “If you ever need someone to take an objective outside look at it, or you want to bounce some ideas around, I would be happy to help.”
Not everyone takes me up on this offer, but some do. This simple offer accounts for at least an extra 4 or 5 deals a year. Why? Because I am the first call when their project starts going sideways – as an impartial third-party, I am also armed with the information of what caused me to lose the deal in the first place.
Check-in Routine
Move that prospect into a check-in routine, so that you will be reminded to make a telephone call to them about every four weeks to see how things are going. This person had everything you wanted in a client (except the good sense to pick you the first time), so you’ll want to stay in touch more often while their project or problem is a priority. As time goes on, however, I start spacing the calls a little further apart – but I still make sure that I am checking in with them no less than 4 times a year.
This simple routine will help you find new opportunities amongst the ashes of previously-lost deals.