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When it comes to marketing and sales, is there a deeper “low” than when you lose a deal?
Perhaps you’ve spent hours and hours working with a prospect. You’ve done multiple demos. You’ve spent time visiting them and discussing work.. and you’ve learned a bit about their personal interests. They like what you have, and you think they are a perfect fit for your solution.
But in the end, something causes them to choose a competitor.
How do you handle the relationship at that point? Well, oftentimes we kick off the dust and move onto the next opportunity. That is a wise course of action.
However, how far off of our radar do we push that lost opportunity?
All the way off the table, and out of our rolodex?
If so, we may be missing out on future opportunities.
Yes, while it may not be productive to root against our competition, the possibility exists that things may go awry with their new client. Perhaps they take too long to deliver on the promises that they presented during their sales process.
Or, perhaps a new technology comes along that interests the customer. If you can beat your competition by adding that solution to your offering, well, that may be the incentive that the “lost” opportunity needs to re-think their situation.
We must find ways to stay familiar to all of our opportunities, current and former.
And, never spend too much time staring at what your competition is doing now. Yes, it’s good to know a bit about what they are doing. But if you keep looking ahead and anticipate the needs of your potential customers, you will have a lot more of them in your “WIN” column in the end.
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