12/6/2024-Open your eyes on “Closed-Losts”

Understanding why your buyers buy is one of the more challenging yet fulfilling parts of being a sales pro. Every buyer and sale is different; learning all you can to help for the next time is key.

If you had a dollar for every time your manager (or parent) told you how important it is to learn from your mistakes, you’d be retired.

However, learning why you lost a piece of business is not easy.

First, it’s easy to move on to the next deal. Second, and more importantly, it’s hard to get answers from buyers who bury themselves in their black holes.

Neither are good excuses.

Fight the urge to move on – stick around a bit longer after the loss to push for answers. You’ll learn what you need to get a "Closed-Won" the next time, and you’ll also learn the value of fighting.

Upon your next lost deal, don’t just tick the Closed-Lost box and move on; maniacally push yourself to get a buyer to tell you what happened.

You may not get all of the truth from the buyer that you need – but walking away without getting any insights creates future vulnerability.

Today, create a list of questions you will ask the buyer when you can get them on the line. You’ll want to be prepared for the five minutes you’ll get with the buyer so as not to waste a moment.

Think of the leverage you’d have if you knew everything about why a buyer didn’t buy. Sure, there are lots of reasons why they don’t buy, but you don’t need to know all of them; you merely need to find out which ones are the most important.

Table stakes include things like timing, fit, need, etc. But those are variables much easier to manage versus issues that are harder to uncover and more nuanced.

What about connecting with a buyer? Literally, it suggests you didn’t get access to the KDMs you needed. But the next layer might imply you and a KDM weren’t communicating as effectively as needed.

Who knows? It could have been personality or stylistic differences. But you can’t just move on and keep your head buried; it’s your job to figure out how to solve it. And to address what skill issues you need to develop so that losing business doesn’t become habitual.

Obviously, losing creates a massive learning opportunity. Everything – and anything – you learn is insightful and will help you the next time. And the good news is there’s always a next time.

No company on earth has a Closed-Lost CRM reason titled "Offended the Buyer with Vulgarity." If there were, Robert DeNiro’s character in Analyze That would be the first to claim it. (Although… this R-rated clip from the movie is entertaining.)

When you designate an opportunity as dead, don’t be too bummed; instead, view it as a chance to shorten the distance between you and the next sale.