Great Idea from Marty Grunder: Have you lost sales to your competition?

 

How many times this year have you lost a sale to the competition? I know I’ve lost several. It’s never a good feeling. Oftentimes, I think sales professionals feel they lost the sale simply because their price was higher. And, that very well may be the case, but I choose to look at lost sales a little differently. I think hard about what I could have done better to prove to the prospect that I was worth the extra investment. There are many thoughts that go through my head; I could write a whole book just on this. This is a great idea; it’s designed to be quick and to the point. So, let me stay on that track this week.

 

Any time we lose a sale it’s because the competition has a better relationship with the prospect than we do. How many of you have had a client for years, a new manager comes in and they bring in a vendor they knew from their prior job? There is a friendship – a level of trust there – that is going to be hard for you to replicate. How many times do you feel you clearly presented a better case to earn the business yet the prospect stays with their regular vendor? Why? Because you didn’t have the relationship the other company did.

 

This week, examine how much attention you’re paying to your existing clients. Make sure you’re not taking them for granted. Call them, e-mail them or, best of all – go see them! How much time are you spending making new relationships? You need to do this so you have a source for future business.

 

Relationship selling is the best and only way to sell, in my book. When you make friends, you make sales!