Why loss reviews are SO important to create a high-performing sales team.
The world of IT sales is not for the faint-hearted. Losing is a regular occurrence even for the very best vendors and the very best sales teams. Week, months and sometimes years can be invested into a customer engagement - only for a competitor to win the selection process or for the customer to take a 'no' decision.
For opportunities where the customer decided to buy - there is always a range of reasons why the sales team lost. The key is to understand the reason for the loss - and to work very hard to not repeat the same mistakes. Too often when we review deals for our vendor clients, we see a pattern emerging. Deals are being lost for the same reason time and time again. By understanding the reason - the vendor's team can break the link between loss, repeat, loss, repeat - and increase the chances of success.
We encourage all our vendor clients to investigate as many lost deals as they possibly can. There is a cost and there is the time needed to do this, but the benefits are potentially game-changing. Repeating the same mistakes is more time-consuming and far more costly - of that, there is no doubt. Loss Analysis - investigating why a deal was lost is so important.
If deal loss analysis doesn't take place, there are a number of potential consequences:
* Morale - It is easy to assume that when deals are lost, it is the fault of the salesperson. This can be true but our research finds that more often than not it is the brand messaging, user experience, or the vendor's reputation. Losing deals has a massive impact on the sales team's morale as the losses pile up.
* Vendor Reputation - gaining a reputation for being keen to engage and compete, but losing time and time again.
* Employee Turnover - the sales team will not tolerate losing deals when they believe they have done all they can. Losses that are not reviewed will simply repeat - and the sales team door will continue to revolve.
* Leadership Confidence - will falter and this will lead to micro-management and leadership engaging in more of the key deals.
Viewpoint Analysis conducts independent loss reviews for vendors. We speak to the customer and find out why they chose another vendor. Whatever the challenge, we aim to uncover it. There is ALWAYS a reason why a deal is lost - if the vendor can learn, they can improve. Win rates increase. Morale improves. Turnover reduces - people make money.
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