Do You Know Why You Lost the Sale?

“Thank you for your time, but we’re going with your competition…”

That dreaded “no thanks” email. Again.

It’s not nice, is it?

You spend weeks or even months building a relationship, investing both time and resources into a potential deal only to have it fall through.

When this happens, do you ask yourself why you lost the deal? If so, it usually falls into a few different categories. 

Do Your Prospects Trust and Respect You? 

Customers can think of a salesperson as someone who is trying to sell something, a supplier with whom they do business, a strategic partner who is essential to their business, or a trusted adviser whose advice is followed.

Obviously, a trusted adviser enjoys significant advantages over the competing salespeople. However, just 18% of the salespeople buyers met over the past year would be classified as trusted advisers whom they respect.

What are some of the steps you take to become more than a vendor to your prospects? 

You Can't Talk the Talk in the C-Level Office

In your day to day sales life, who do you spend most of the time talking with? Is it midlevel managers or are you in the C-level office?

For most salespeople, it is the lower level of the food chain where they spend their time. Therefore, it is critical for salespeople to understand how C-level executives think and to communicate with them in the language they use. 

Unfortunately, studies show that fewer than one out of three salespeople can hold a compelling conversation with senior executives.

What steps are you taking to people able to have a meaningful conversation with a C-level? 

They Can’t Clearly Explain How Their Solution Helps the Buyer’s Business

Buyers amass information that helps them justify their strategic decisions. In other words, a product’s strategic value comprises the reasons and arguments that buyers provide to senior management and others in the company about why they should purchase a product. 

Different strategic values include increasing revenues, decreasing costs, gaining a competitive advantage, and standardizing operations to reduce risk. However, buyers say only 54% of salespeople they meet with can clearly explain how their solution impacts the buyer’s business.

Do you understand how to explain your product more than just what it does?