Do You Have a Lost Business Strategy?

[tconnor]

Sales Tips #249
Do You Have a Lost Business Strategy?

If you tell me you have never lost business or a sale I will tell you that you are either a brand new salesperson or you are perfect. Lost sales and lost business is a reality in corporate America. The questions are:

• Why do you lose business?
• What can you do to prevent losing it?
• What can you do, if anything, to win the business back once lost?

Let’s take them in order.

Why do you lose business? Business is lost at various stages of the sales cycle. Before you even approach a prospect, during the sales process, at the end of the sales process or during the after sales relationship. Lost business at each one of these stages have a few things in common.

• Trust is not established or lost.
• Prospects needs or circumstances change.
• Your company’s policies, products, services or procedures are not customer friendly.

Lost business is either in your control or it isn’t. If your client goes out of business there isn’t much you can do about that. If they decide to give their business to a competitor there may be something you can do about that. If you lose the business because your prices are higher than they are willing to pay there is something you can do about that.

There area always degrees of everything. Nothing is black or white any more. It is critical that your first response to the question, why do you lose business, is what could or should, I or we, have done better, more creatively or sooner?

What can you do to prevent losing it. Depending on when you lose business - while you are trying to sell it or after it has been closed - your strategies my vary. For example if you are losing the business while you are trying to sell it, a careful evaluation of everything that has been done, not done, the competitor has done, the prospect really wants or needs etc. must be a prerequisite to any follow-up actions, otherwise you could be just wasting more time, energy and resources. Some business is just not worth pursuing if it is “that difficult” to sell. (I am assuming here that you know how to sell and you are good at it. If not, any suggestions I could make would most likely be a waste of time – other than you should read some of my best selling sales books if you haven’t already. What I mean by difficult is their lack of cooperation, communication, integrity.)
Once you have identified where you went wrong, again assuming that this business is worth going after, it is important to follow a few simple steps. Here are two that I have used.

1. Set up an exit interview with your prospect to discuss where you missed the mark in trying to sell them. Here is a simple example as an approach, “I need your help. My goal is to be the most successful salesperson in our organization. I was unable to convince you as to the benefits to you of our products. Would you be willing to spend a few minutes with me sharing with me where I could have done a better job? It would mean so much to me and may career?” Will this always get you an appointment? No. If you do, will it always help you re-gain the business? No. Nothing works all the time. The key is to have a lost business strategy.
   
   
2. Send the prospect what I call a lost business letter, thanking them for their consideration. Include a one page lost sale evaluation asking four or five simple questions like; The main reason you selected the vendor you did was?

What can you do, if anything, to win the business back once it has been lost. Business is lost for any number of reasons:

• New decision makers.
• New competitors in the market.
• Changing business philosophy or needs.
• Changes in management.
• New replacement technology.
• And on and on…

Some of these you may be able to do something about others it might be prudent to just walk away from the business. My strategy has been to do both depending on a number of factors such as; the quality of the relationship I had with senior management, my desire to continue to do business with them, how long the relationship has been active and my future continued value to their organization.

Others you may have no control over. For example so far in 2005 I have had the presidents of eight of my clients leave their organization for any number of reasons. Granted, if I have maintained a quality relationship with them and they move into new organizations where there is potential for new business I could begin with them again. But, they could just as easily decide to retire or move to Maine and start a fishing business.

The key factor in re-gaining lost business is to know:

• Why you lost the business in the first place.
• How important were the prospect’s reasons for leaving in the overall scheme of things?
• Are their reasons still critical and if they are can your organization do a better job with them?
• Is the business regainable (I know that’s not a word but you know what I mean.)
• Do you want the business back?
• Do you have an effective lost business strategy?

As you can see the common denominator in all three areas is; do you have a consistent strategy that works? If not, Why Not?