Suppose for a moment that, as a salesperson or business owner, you’ve been working on an excellent prospect for several months. When your sales manager or business partner asks you how the deal is progressing, you say, Pretty well. I’m very hopeful.
You check your voicemail often, hoping for the go-ahead. Finally, you hear the voice of your prospect when he says, “Hi, it’s Bill from ABC, Inc. Sorry it took so long to get back to you, but it’s been hectic. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that, at this time, we’ve decided not to go with you. You did a great job with the proposal, but I’ve been working with these other folks for so long that I’ve decided not to change. Thanks for your time. I’m sure we’ll talk again.”
So, how do you feel now?
Some of you aren’t feeling too badly. You’re not happy, of course, but your general reaction might be, “Well at least Bill let me know where I stand. He didn’t leave me hanging. And besides, it doesn’t mean we’ll never do business.” Within a few hours, maybe less, you’re pretty much over it.
On the other hand, some of you feel as if the rug has been pulled out from under you. You’re thinking, “What am I gonna do now? Where did I go wrong? Is it me?” You can’t get yourself to pick up the phone to call another prospect for several days, which you spend shuffling papers around your desk.
If you handled this scenario without too much disappointment, congratulations! You’ve learned one of the toughest lessons in sales. You’ve separated your role as a salesperson from your self-iimage. Success or failure of any one deal cannot diminish who you are as a person. You’ve learned not to take it personally.
Now here’s the key lesson, regardless of your reaction to the scenario, you didn’t have to be there in the first place. Your selling system, or perhaps your lack of a selling system, is what put you there. There is a way you could have determined what it would take to separate Bill from his current vendor, or that nothing you could say or do would budge him. You could have found out exactly when he would make his decision, so you didn’t need to wait by the phone for his call. With this information, you might have even decided not to do the proposal in the first place, saving your money and time. You could have avoided hoping, wishing, expecting, and ultimately being disappointed.
With the proper selling system, you won’t win them all. But win or lose, you never have to be disappointed again.
