The thanks… your proposal was excellent, and your product looks really interesting, but we’ve decided to go in a different direction call…

You know how that call feels

The team worked for months with a new prospect. They covered all their bases and met and influenced everyone in the power base.

They are starting to feel pretty good about their prospects of winning the deal and have even forecasted the opportunity to close this quarter.

It’s been a long, hard-fought battle, but one that will be worth all the effort because the deal is big and has lots of future annuity business right behind this first win.

But before your rep spends their commission cheque, here’s one critical question you should ask them!

I call it the “Look Back” Question!

I got this question from one of my clients, Ivan Brinjak, at Longview Systems, and I liked it so much that I stole it… So thanks, Ivan.

Here’s the question you should ask your rep:

• If the prospect was to notify you today that you LOST the deal, what fatal flaws in your campaign do you think they discovered that led to the loss?
  
  
• What steps will you take NOW to address the flaws before you get the bad news phone call?

Think about it for a moment

Has the team missed any important steps or stakeholders in their complex sales campaign?

• Did they take any shortcuts?
  
  
• Did they get Access to Power and meet the Financial Decision-Maker in person?
  
  
• Did the team develop a coach who helped guide them with inside information?
  
  
• Did they understand how the competition planned to beat them?
  
  
• Did they have a plan to ensure Customer Success and communicate their Install and Support plan to the customer?
  
  
• Did they understand what risk’s could cause the customers’ project to fail?
  
  
• Was there any part of the sales campaign that wasn’t competitive and needed special attention?

Remember, if you’ve identified flaws in your sales campaign, likely, your prospect has as well.

The question is, what will you do about it now before it’s too late?

Use the “Look Back” Question often and early… you’ll be glad you did!

• See you next week when I ask: What are the three most critical traits you should be looking for when hiring a high-performance sales team?
  
  

See you next Saturday.

Great Selling – Jeff@SalesLeadersOnly.com