Lost Deals that can help you evolve

Key takeaways from lost deals that can help you evolve

All our efforts don’t end in positive outcomes. Sometimes milestones not attained and targets not met can teach you more about sales than the deals closed in a good quarter. Learning lessons and noting points from the deals that didn’t close is essential. So, we’ll take a look at the most noteworthy takeaways one can have from the lost deals. 

Reasons for losing deals

There can be multiple reasons for losing deals. Let’s have a look at some of them. 

Lack of trust 

People won’t purchase anything from a person they don’t trust. Hence, establishing a trustworthy character of yourself with the prospects is of utmost essential. If an SDR fails to do that, losing a deal is likely. Granted, it’s challenging to incorporate trust with a prospect you’ve never known before, but with careful observation and persistence, it’s very much possible to have a healthy rep-prospect relationship. 

Faulty lead qualification

This is one of the leading causes of not closing deals. If sales weren’t ever meant to happen, they wouldn’t happen no matter how hard one tries. So, if you’ve not qualified your leads correctly, there’s danger right from the beginning of the cycle. Another factor to consider is the quality of leads you’re qualifying. For b2b leads, quality over quantity is proven to work each time. So take your time to find leads who’d be a good fit for your product or service.

Lack of proper knowledge of the product or service

Having a good sense of what you’re selling is the most basic expectation from a sales rep. That’s because if this parameter is not checked, it affects several others, and the sales funnel gets messed up entirely. Not having a sound idea of your product or service also makes you look underconfident, unprepared, confused, or careless in front of the prospect. 

Unresolved prospect queries

All the top salespeople have one characteristic in common. As much sales require one to talk, present, and persuade, they also require listening. So, avoiding your lead’s queries or doubts may land you in deep trouble. You can lose a prospect very fast if they start to have doubts or second thoughts about what they have to purchase. Therefore, attentively responding to your prospect’s queries is the right thing to do to easily gain closures.

Read More: How to Spot Deal Risks in Your Pipeline And Boost Efficiency

How to gain from your losses

While losses are inevitable, gaining valuable lessons from them is crucial. Here are some things that can help you learn from the lost deals and evolve.

Data never lies

People may lie, but data won’t ever. Get all the relevant data you can from the deals lost, and try to spot the mistakes and weak points. Look at the KPIs(Key Performance Indicators) and make a mental note of them to prepare better for future deals. There’s no such thing as insignificant data, so pay attention to every parameter, and focus on improving in all aspects.

Revisit your calls and demos

Sales calls or demos always have an unforeseeable factor associated with them. So, getting these right is quite tricky, even for experienced SDRs. The only way to master these is through trial and error. Revisit the demos of the lost deals to identify what might have gone wrong and where. 

Reevaluate your ideal prospects and strategize better

Maybe the reason you didn’t convert a lead was the qualification process. Identifying the right leads for your product or service is vital to close deals. So, in case of a non-conversion, reevaluating your lead strategy and modifying the non-performing bits is wise. Forming the best client strategy takes some time, but continuous observation and tweaking can help you get there quickly. 

Don’t treat the losses as permanent

Just because a deal didn’t close doesn’t mean it has to stay that way forever. You can reach out to the lead after reevaluating your plans later. Taking another shot is absolutely possible; in some cases, closures happen after some initial stagnancy. 

Compare lost vs won deals

One way to better your lead strategy is by looking at examples of deals you’ve won with the same lead or similar ones. They can act as a reference point for lost deals and tell a lot about your mistakes. Comparative analyses are helpful and a healthy practice for evolution.

Conclusion

Losses and gains are always separate variables of the same equation. So, eliminating losses is never possible. But with consistent effort and using the techniques discussed above, you can minimise deal losses to a great extent. Understanding the prospect’s needs and responding to them is the primary factor in closing deals. If you still miss a deal, you can always focus on the learning curve and take notes from past mistakes to evolve into a better SDR.

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