“I just lost a deal to a competitor. Our program is more robust and I even offered our solution to them for less than what they ended up paying for the other solution. What should I do?”

If the other deal is finalized, it would be in your best interest to quickly review the steps that were taken and LOOK for areas where you may have been at fault. Most salespeople will only look for what they did right in order to say “see, I did everything the way I was supposed to.” If you want to learn from this, in order to reduce the chances of it happening again, it’s important to try and identify areas that MAY HAVE caused a misstep that lead your prospect to take action with your competitor.
Here are a couple areas of interest you may want to consider asking yourself:
“Was I truly selling in my prospect’s best interest, or was I rushing the sales process in order to try and “get the deal in” before the end of the month?”
“Did I have full commitment from them wanting a solution?” And, if you didn’t have full commitment of them wanting a solution, why did you even discuss price, let alone offer them a “better deal”?
Were they “sold” on your solution to their problem?
If mistakes were made and you find them, take responsibility and MOVE ON. This is how we learn. This is how we get better. We don’t like the taste of losing a deal. Swallow it and use it as motivation to be better so it doesn’t happen again.

The Other Side of the Coin

On the flip side, there are times when you’ve done everything right and you know what? The prospect simply preferred the other solution. It happens. MOVE-ON. No sense over analyzing why, what seemed to be a sure thing, went south. That’s why I mention above to do a “quick” review. Whether mistakes were made or not, don’t let a lost deal turn into two, three or four by being hung up on what you can’t change.

Live to Fight Another Day

So they went with someone else. Take the high road and let them know you will be there for them if things don’t go the way they want and back up your words with action. If they are a fish worth chasing, continue to be an occasional presence and offer your industry advice and continue to brand yourself as a trusted industry advisor / subject matter expert so that if your competitor drops the ball, or a new opportunity arises, they give you a second shot.
Happy Selling.
– Michael Pedone
Michael Pedone teaches inside sales teams how to pick up the phone and close business. He is the CEO/FOUNDER of SalesBuzz.com – An online sales training company.

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• Eliminate “No, Thanks”, “Not Interested” & “We’re All Set” Responses
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