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You are here: Home / Blog / Failure Is Not An Option. Until It Is In Sales

Failure Is Not An Option. Until It Is In Sales

August 22, 2019 By maurasf

failure in sales
Does a sales loss stop you or can you move forward?

You’ve probably heard some leaders say, “Failure is not an option” thinking they are motivating others.  They’re wrong. Failure is an option and it certainly is a possibility in sales. Sales professionals know that customers sometimes have other purchasing ideas even if failure is not the option sales professionals would choose.  What can sales professionals do when failure sometimes occurs in their sales? Here are some ideas. 

Get over it quickly. 

I don’t mean to be harsh, but muddling in disappointment for days just won’t work if you are a disappointed sales professional.  Don’t take my word for it. Martin Seligman has researched sales success. Optimists outsell pessimists. Pessimists are the ones who ruminate over and over about their failure.  They can’t get over it. So, stop it! Realize that failure is not permanent, even though pessimists think it is.  Pessimists can and must learn to think more optimistically to get past the failure. 

First, they can stop the mental self-talk that’s negative. You do have a choice in what you focus on. Yes, you can be angry and scream at the wall. Just be sure that the screaming is limited and recognize when you’re going off on the doom and gloom path. You have to cut it short and move on to something different that isn’t negative. Some people find that talking about their failure with someone else is helpful. It gives closure. Do whatever works for you. Just focus on limiting the time you spend with the negative self-talk going over and over the disappointment. 

Learn from it. 

One of the things you can and should learn from a failure is what is causing the failure.   Take inventory of your past mistakes. Are they the same or similar?  That’s not good. How will you know if they are? You have to delicately ask your prospects why they selected another supplier when you lose business. Some prospects will be hard to reach. They might think you are still trying to sell. Make it clear that you are not. 

Ask for help to make your selling better in the future.  How you ask and what you ask for is critical to get a response. Asking “What could I have done better?” might be too direct. You should start with, “I need your help.” Then give your prospect a reason to pick another supplier to help you get a more truthful answer.     You might say, “I know there’s a reason you picked someone else. What did my competition do better than I did?” 

You aren’t going to get different results when you do the same things again and again. It’s acceptable to make mistakes and fail. It’s not acceptable to constantly repeat the same mistake over and over again.  Avoiding a failure means you are doing something different. Find out what you need to change and where to do better.  

What did you miss?

Sometimes you have a flaw in your sales process that causes the failure.  The flaw is something you missed as you developed your sales strategy.  Ask yourself, “What did I need to know that could have made the sale?” Perhaps you missed selling to a key decision maker. Maybe you missed asking for a specific piece of information.  Maybe your timing was off and you needed to get buy in from different people than you thought.  You must identify what you missed.   

Adjust your sales process to include the missed questions or missstep. On future sales calls be sure to include identifying and working with all key decision makers. That means also contacting the people who might say no.  Those people who can stop the deal are often overlooked in sales. 

No sales professional ever wants to lose a deal.  The only certainty in sales is that sometimes you’re going to fail. Be the successful salesperson and quickly move on so you can then get to your next successful sale.

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Filed Under: Blog, Sales Process

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*What was your last “mistake?” Did you make it before? There’s nothing wrong with making mistakes in sales provided you are making different mistakes. (You are learning from them!)

About the principal

Would you take auto mechanics classes when you buy a car? Maura did because she wanted to be able to work on her car. She takes that same approach to selling. She can show you how to get below the surface of selling to learn why and how different strategies work. She will show you which skills to implement that will shorten your sales cycle and increase your sales. She was Mobil Oil's first female Lubrication Engineer in the United States and one of Chevron's top 5 salespeople in the country. She knows what works for sales.

"I would recommend your work to other sales organizations who want to get better results from improved selling strategies."
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Selling is the easiest job in the world. Just ask anyone who is not in sales. Read Maura’s ideas on “more brain…less mouth” selling to make your selling easier and more successful.

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