HTSS190 - What to do when you lose a sale or a deal - Scott Sylvan Bell

What to do when you lose a sale or a deal

This is a hidden conversation in sales to the extent most people can't answer it properly. What happens internally to you when you can't close a deal or you lost a sale. Nobody talks about this because they don’t know how to fix your problems. When you take the time to commit to fixing the issues you will get further in sales. You must be willing to answer tough questions and be accountable to someone. 

How to pinpoint a lost sale or deal 

There are plenty of places you can be influenced from to be a better closer. These ideas and concepts have come from therapy, other closers, notes, and well as conversations with salespeople who lost deals. Most sales trainers will say keep going and not give ways to fix your problems. 

Rejection in sales is normal and part of what you do 

When you look at sales rejection is part of the industry. Rejection is supposed to happen in sales. You are supposed to get better over time. Great sales trainers and coaches use their experience as well as others to help you with guidance. Even though rejection is normal yet it can hurt and does have lasting effects. Your problems with rejection are compounded by your personal life. When you lose a deal you can look at what’s going on in your life. You want to treat this information like a puzzle. Are there correlations to the problems you are having with closing deals?

The formula for rejection and regret  

If there was an overall formula for rejection and even regret it would be time, effort, energy, risk, money, or reputation. We all want to look good in front of others. You question your skills, your talents and your capabilities. When you are closing you have better relevancy internally. When you are not closing deals you will search for the approval of others. 

The enemy in sales is rejection

As you get better at sales your closing rate increases. Rejection happens 2x more than success for most salespeople. Closers get closer to 1:1 for rejection and closed deals in most industries. The best of the best closers have roughly a 25% chance of failure. 66% closing rate, 50% closing rate, and 33% closing rate are the targets for you. These are the three stages of sales sort to speak.

Why routines matter in sales 

Routines matter, what you say to yourself matters, what you do when you lose a deal matters. It's easy to blame others and when you do you lose control. Its easy to want to push aside what really happened and focus on other people or outside circumstances. There are times where its 100% your fault and a few times there is something from the outside.

Questions in sales and closing deals 

You have to get good at asking questions. Jim Camp had a process called 3+. Jim was able to use this technique in his discovery process. When you ask a question 3 different ways you can find answers people didn't think they would give you. There is a point where you are beyond training and have to put in the work. You can only practice so much and then you have to put into action. 

The questions to ask yourself when you lose a deal

The hard part of losing a deal is what most salespeople don’t want to face. You really have to look inside and ask the tough questions about yourself and your skills:

1. How did you prepare?
2. What questions did you ask in the presentation -
3. What rebuttals did you use?
4. What objections did you not call out early on – you stop a presentation instead of letting the idea reverberate “I get the sense” I get the feel”, “Maybe you can help me out here” target feelings emotions -
5. You ask for the sale 
6. You overcome objections -
7. You win or you lose

The 4321 sales process framework 

When you organize your thoughts is makes it easier to pinpoint the loss of a deal. This doesn't take away the feelings of grief or even magically make things better. You can get a sense over 10 calls where you are really struggling. 

• 4 things that went right
• 3 things that were ok
• 2 things you struggled with
• 1 thing you completely failed on

The end goal is to look at what went right more than wrong. You don’t bounce around. You find the things you are getting right first, this is the opposite of negative

You can go to: Howtosell.live/4321 and get your cheat sheet. 

How to determine if you met with the decision-maker

There are times when you lose a deal because you didn't do enough or even pinpoint where the potholes are for the buyer. When you meet with a person to make a sale you need three items to be complete:

1. A pain, risk, problem or pleasure

2. A budget

3. A timeframe or commitment

If you are missing any one of these three you will more than likely lose out on a deal.