There's No Such Thing As Almost Making A Sale
Carl Henry
The Six-Month Master Sales Class - MODERN Sales & PEOPLE Customer Service Webinars - Hiring Assessments/Debriefing
There’s no Such Thing as Almost Making a Sale: Learning to Thrive in a Results-Oriented Industry
Lots of salespeople like to complain or trade stories about clients who ultimately decided not to buy at the last minute, but who does that really help? By worrying about the “one that got away,” you just dwell on failure and take time away from the things you ought to be doing.?
One of my pet peeves is hearing salespeople talk about how this or that prospect got away just when the salesperson was "so close." It's not that I don't sympathize with them – we’ve all been there – but that, beyond shaking your head and telling the story to a spouse or buddy, there's really no point. After all, there's no such thing as almost making a sale.
I know some of you out there are silently disagreeing with me. That's because you have seen a new account disintegrate from inches away: you've actually witnessed a client come close to signing on the dotted line, literally or figuratively, only to change their mind at the last minute. Isn't that "almost making a sale?" Well, let me ask you this: did you earn any commissions from that transaction?
And really, that's the point. Regardless of how close or convinced a prospect was, until they placed an order and paid for it, nothing really happened... at least not anything that matters. The only way to become a truly successful salesperson is to recognize that fact and move on. Sure, you might have invested a lot of time and energy into securing their business, but how does it help you to obsess on what didn't happen after the fact? Doesn't that just compound the problem?
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Selling isn't about intentions or activities– we only count results. Here are a few ways to get over near misses and get on with the business of becoming a sales superstar:
Learn from it, and then move on. Before you forget about the client completely, go back through your notes and impressions and see if you can find out where things went wrong. A lot of times, you'll never know, or the reason you lost the sale will be out of your control. But, if it was a need you didn't uncover, or an objection you didn't handle well, then you might be able to learn from the experience and do better next time.
Give up… for now. Once you have determined that a sale has slipped away, decide to follow up with the prospect down the road and leave it at that. Desperately calling and begging isn't a very high percentage tactic, so stop thinking about the commission and move on to the next one.?
Put the math on your side. You never want to have too many of your eggs in one basket. Having lots of prospects to work with at once doesn't just reduce your anxiety, it usually improves your closing ratio because there is less pressure on each individual account. If you find that you are having a hard time getting over customers that got away, it's usually a sign that your prospecting, promotion, or networking efforts aren't strong enough.
Get more organized. For every sale that gets away, I see five more that are given away by sloppy customer service and poor record-keeping. Keep track of where your buyers are in the selling process, what you've promised to do for each of them and when, and what the details of your conversations are like. Having this kind of information at your fingertips keeps buyers from falling through the cracks – which greatly reduces the amount of time you have to spend thinking about sales you didn't make.
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