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Let’s talk about lost sales. Stop blaming price for why you lose those deals.
You know, those opportunities that slipped through your fingers, leaving you scratching your head wondering where it all went wrong.
It’s a frustrating experience, to say the least. But what if I told you that the reasons behind those lost sales might not be what you think?
Was this newsletter forwarded to you?
There are numerous reasons why these cold DM strategies won’t work.
74% vs. 22%: Sales teams attribute 74% of lost deals to price, while customers cite price as the reason only 22% of the time (Ignite Selling).
Top Criteria: Integration with existing systems and reliability rank higher than price as decision criteria for customers, (Ignite Selling)
Bad Practices: The average company loses 12% in annual revenue due to poor sales practices. So if you’re a $10 million annual revenue company, that’s $1.2 million in lost sales per year (Aberdeen Group).
Lost sales present a substantial challenge for businesses, regardless of their size.
While some prioritize revenue growth, not all fully grasp the repercussions of lost sales.
The time, energy, and effort it takes to build up to a proposal, build the relationships, have the customer want our offerings, and ultimately have it fall through, sometimes we have to look further than just taking the easy road out to blaming it on price.
Very few will take ownership of the loss. Let’s look at how to fix it.
Let’s dance.
Bridge the Gap
There’s often a large divide between what salespeople perceive as the reasons for lost sales and the actual factors driving customer decisions.
That’s where the importance of understanding customer needs and decision-making processes comes into play.
Imagine this: you’re part of a large manufacturing company, and your sales team is constantly lamenting about losing deals because your prices aren’t competitive enough.
Management is scratching their heads, wondering why their supposedly top-notch product isn’t sealing the deal. Sound familiar?
Strong relationships? Ahead of the competition? Competitively priced?
Let’s hope so.
Here’s Your 5-Step Plan – Bring Them Back to Life
Instead of just sitting on all those lost opportunities (and millions of dollars) worth of deals. Let’s do something about it. Here are my recommendations:
These are with the lost deals (and leads) who have either shown interest but not committed, scheduled meetings but didn’t follow through, or gone cold after initial contact.
Create a List:
Identify lost prospects falling into four categories: unready, missed meetings, cold leads, and lost*
Prioritize prospects almost converted or those who scheduled but didn’t follow through.
Find a New Contact:
Use your CRM or sales platforms to locate accounts with departed contacts.
Utilize LinkedIn to identify new contacts within these accounts and reach out.
Look for Trigger Events:
Monitor trigger events like mergers or economic changes.
Set up Google Alerts or follow companies on LinkedIn for updates.
Make the Call:
Prioritize phone calls over emails for re-engagement.
Refresh notes before calling and focus on reconnecting professionally.
Don’t Wait for Trigger Events:
Use product updates or research findings to proactively reach out.
Offer valuable content to reignite interest and push negotiations.
*If you’re a government contractor, compile any post-award debriefs (won or lost) so you have an overview of all your contracts. Data can tell a great story at the end of a year.
You never know when an opportunity might pop back open again, or a lead will want to engage with you.
Keep adding that value!
Get in Earlier and Often
It’s simple: don’t believe everything you hear. Don’t fall into the trap of blaming price for every lost sale.
Peel back the layers, dig deeper, and truly understand what makes your customers tick. Only then can you tailor your sales strategies to align with their priorities and improve your chances of success.
If you have a relationship issue, such a decision-maker at your customer does not know who you are, then that is something your senior leadership wants to hear often, give them work to do to build relationships.
In the end, it’s not about being the fastest or the cheapest. It’s about being the best fit for your customers’ needs and aspirations. It’s about understanding their dreams and helping them achieve them, one sale at a time.
As I have mentioned in the past, we are in the relationship business. We are building from a DM, so start small and continue to foster a new relationship.
Pack Some Additional Punch
Your CRM is your gold mine and your voice of truth. Dive deep into your sales data to uncover patterns and trends that may shed light on the reasons behind lost opportunities.
Look for commonalities among deals that were lost on price versus those lost for other reasons.
Examine metrics such as win/loss ratios, deal size, and the stage at which deals are typically lost to identify any potential patterns or areas for improvement.
Your sales, technical, and engineering teams are also your friends here as well. Encourage their perspectives so you can uncover valuable insights and develop more targeted approaches to addressing lost opportunities.
So, the next time you’re faced with a lost opportunity, don’t ask if your prices are too high. Ask if we were positioned correctly to win the opportunity, from a relationship perspective.
The bigger the deal, the more people are involved, and the more complex.
That’s the real key to unlocking success in sales.
Have a great week this week and see you next week.
Whenever you’re ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:
Unlocking Hidden Potential – Reconnecting with Past Clients for Explosive Growth – Check out my free eBook on how you can find hidden gems in your past clients and help you crush your sales goals.
Build your Sales CRM – Download our free Sales eBook on How Your Sales Team Can Maximize Your CRM Tool. Whether it’s Hubspot, Salesforce, or another CRM tool, make sure you leverage it to your advantage.
Awesome Sales Resources – Transform your sales engagement and capabilities across Social Selling, CRM, Lead Generation, Enablement, and more.
