Posted by Ellen Naylor on March 31, 2011 at 9:14am in Sales and Marketing Intelligence

Back to Sales and Marketing Intelligence Discussions

From a Good Sales Call to a Great Sales Call focuses on improving Sales’ post-decision debrief process with prospects, referred to as Win / Loss analysis in the competitive intelligence world. I like how the author, Richard Schroder, adds ‘post-decision debrief’ as the 7th element of the sales process. He insists Sales asks customers for their permission to conduct a post-sales interview during the presentation of your company’s solution rather than waiting until after the buying decision. A professional way to approach your prospect is: “We promote continuous improvement, and whether we win your business or lose it to a competitor, we value your feedback.”

Apparently only 18% of US companies have a formal Win / Loss program. Thus, in most new business situations, sales people don’t have a complete and accurate understanding of why they won or lost sales. If armed with such data, Sales can make behavioral changes to improve close rates by 15%.

According to Anova Consulting Group’s research, the sales process is often a top driver of the purchase decision, whether the business is won or lost.

Key reasons for losses from the sales process include:

**Lack of a customized presentation

**The salesperson doesn’t accurately uncover and understand the prospect’s unique needs, including decision making criteria

**The salesperson and / or team does not thoroughly prepare for prospect meetings and the presentation

Richard believes that sales people should not conduct these interviews since they often take the loss too personally and might try to re-sell the customer on their solution, be aggressive, defensive or dejected, which causes the customer to clam up or just to tell part of the story, the part that does not involve Sales. Prospects can also be uncomfortable talking with the salesperson whose solution they just rejected.

Yet, Richard gives great suggestions to help Sales conduct interviews:

**Do not attempt to gather feedback during the same call when you learn the sales outcome.

**Schedule a phone call or in-person visit with the decision-maker a couple of weeks after the sales decision.

**Take time to prepare the questions you want answered and seek input from your sales organization.

**This debrief questionnaire should include questions around the customer’s decision-making criteria; qualitative questions around your firm’s strengths and weaknesses; benchmarking against competitors; and the sales process (more detail to develop a Win / Loss questionnaire).

**This preparation will get you grounded, and will help you neutralize your emotions around the win or loss and let you focus on how and what you can learn.

**At the end of the interview, ask your customer if you missed anything. In my experience, this is when the floodgates open.

The book is chock full of ways to sell better:

**Build rapport. Learn as much about your prospect(s) as you can through the Internet, LinkedIn, Google, Twitter and industry associations.

**Don’t just plan your presentation: prepare the initial discussion you will have with each prospect. Ask some open ended questions to engage them.

**Develop a second approach to build rapport in case the first approach does not work.

**When in doubt, de-sell. For example, “Perhaps my service does not quite fit your needs.”

**Be consultative: if your product or service is not what the customer is looking for, refer them to someone who can help them.

**Remember people want to buy from experts, not salespeople. Research Research Research!

Appendix B tells Sales Managers how to implement a Win / Loss program. It is practical and well thought-out. Two factors stand out from my experience with developing such programs.

1. Does the program have executive level sponsorship and comprehensive buy-in from critical areas of your company?

2. Will the program be well integrated with existing processes already developed at your company?

I have learned the hard way that buy-in is essential at all levels. Some programs never get off the ground due to this lack of communication, leadership and integration.

My only criticism is Richard’s strong bias towards using a third party to conduct the Win / Loss analysis. I agree a third party brings less bias to this process, and can offer customers anonymity when reporting back to your company. However, I experienced good results conducting analysis for my company prior to consulting. There are some advantages that internal sources have: they know your companys products and services better than any third party since this is their full time job. Thus they can probe more deeply in these areas than can a consultant. They also know your company’s culture. Sometimes consulting firms recommend change that won’t work with your companys culture, even though it’s a great idea.

I recommend this book for those in marketing and sales who want to implement a Win / Loss program. I particularly recommend this book for salespeople who want to be BETTER. It clearly defines the value proposition for conducting analysis, especially for Sales. Do not be left out!

Where to Turn When You Want Training

Q: I have been in sales for more than 10 years, and I have changed industries several times. I never had formal training or courses but learn quickly, even when starting from scratch. I am tired, though, of doing it on my own without input of how to be better. My sales managers always seem to be busy with the duties of managing a team and keeping track of sales.

I never have had managers who are interested in training on an overall basis. They want great results with as little investment of time as possible in the reps. I think I am a natural at sales, but I would do better if I had some creative suggestions along the way for how to improve.

How do I find such a thing when a company does not offer it?

A:You have been hired for your experience and successful sales record, so your managers may feel you do well enough on your own. Independent sales reps have entrepreneurial personalities with perceptive social skills, but they can improve when they apply various processes to their knowledge banks. Seeing as you have done well as an independent learner, you could benefit from reading books on selling, which would replace the formal business courses or seminars you think you have missed.

Peruse the “how to sell” books, and check each author’s background. If you think an author’s background is impressive, review the table of contents to see what the book offers.

Richard M. Schroder, author of “From a Good Sales Call to a Great Sales Call,” researched the sales process for more than 12 years. He found that salespeople repeatedly make the same mistakes, and asking their potential clients why they did not get the sale does not net the real reasons. If you practice Schroders eight-step system — intended for all professional sales reps — you will learn how to analyze why you win and why you lose.

You even may learn that switching industries was not what you needed to do better.

Additional task degrades educated employee

Q:I work alone in sales in a large store. The owner just asked me to mop the floors because the cleaning service has become too expensive. I was offended and in shock. I have a college degree; I’m not a cleaning woman, and I was not hired to do floors. He didn’t even offer me a raise to do this.

My husband does not think the request was that bad. What do you think?

A:In defense of the owner, he is under pressure and has to cut corners. He clearly cannot cut your job, because you are the only salesperson in the store. On your side, you were hired to sell, not to replace his cleaning service.

If you peacefully comply with his request, there is no telling what it eventually will do to your self-esteem. Once you start mopping, your anger may rise higher than you can imagine, and when it does, you may quit in a rage. Do not let it get to that point.

Calmly explain your feelings and thoughts about this with him. You also can call a lawyer to see whether you have a potential cause of action. Do not go ahead with it if you do, but knowing your rights may help you in your discussion.

Jobs may not be easy to find, but if you cannot find peace within yourself because of this change in duties, start looking for another job.