Are you completely happy with the results of your selling efforts? Are some sales smaller than you expected? Do others take longer to close than anticipated? Do some of the sales that are “in the bag” never close at all? Do these situations occur too frequently?
Why do these things happen? Do prospects just not appreciate the value your product or service represents? Is it the condition of the economy? Has market demand precipitously dropped off? Are competitors making unnecessary concessions in order to corner the market? When you look for external excuses to justify poor performance, you deny yourself the opportunity to improve future situations.
When an opportunity doesn’t work out as planned, rather than blaming the prospect, the marketplace, the state of the economy, or your competitors, examine your own strategies and actions. What did you overlook? Could you have done a better job qualifying some aspect of the opportunity? Could you have obtained a stronger commitment from the prospect regarding the timing for a decision? Was there an essential element of the selling process that you missed or skipped?
If you’re not happy with the outcome of a selling opportunity, examine your actions and the sequence of events that led up to the outcome. Identify what you could have done to achieve a better result and apply that lesson to future opportunities. Mistakes uncorrected are destined to be repeated. Things won’t change until you change.
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