You and your team worked hard to land a new account and the prospect went with someone else. What now? If you\u2019re at a loss for what to do next, below are five actionable items that you can implement with your team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first thing to ask yourself is, \u201cdid we belong at the presentation?\u201d and if so, \u201cdid we present at the right time?\u201d Enthusiastic prospects are the most powerful drug on the market. An eager potential client can convince salespeople to present too early, without even properly qualifying their approach. In these situations, it is imperative to identify your process and stick to it. Don\u2019t allow the scope of the prospect or their timeline affect how you follow your process. If you do not have a formal process at this time, brainstorm with your team to develop a list of questions that you should be able to answer before every presentation you give. This will ensure that you never attempt to bring on a client too early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Highlight and celebrate what went well. <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n While the end result is not what you had hoped for, keep everything in perspective. There were a lot of good things that happened in route to rejection. Maybe one of your junior sales leaders stepped up. Perhaps a team member caught a mistake before it made it to the client. Did you see your team working cohesively as a unit? Make sure you take the time to impress upon those who you manage, how good of a job they did, even if the final score didn\u2019t reflect their efforts. Sales and client acquisition is about a lot more than just the number of prospects you convert. Coaching to this principle, instead of the bottom line, is sure to improve your performance and ratios down the road. If you point out the positives in a situation, people are more likely to repeat them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Learn from your mistakes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This may be where a leader can have the most impact. There\u2019s no better teacher than experience, and the best way to improve after a failure is to address the problem head-on. This is an important step to take in real-time instead of waiting. The more time that goes by, the less that will be remembered. Where did you lose the account? In the proposal, the pitch? Gather your team together and determine what your biggest weakness was. Once identified, brainstorm how you can turn it into a strength and ensure that it never limits you again. If you can gain valuable experience, develop new proficiencies, and improve team chemistry along the way, was losing the account really a negative?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. Don\u2019t overcorrect \/ Keep the family together.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The easy choice might be \u201cblow it up\u201d and start over with a new team, but that would be an overreaction. Too often, teams are judged and critiqued based upon isolated outcomes. Unless there are intense chemistry issues, keep your team together for an extended period of time and continue to foster growth and development amongst the members. As is true with anything, only practice will improve performance. Each time your team faces a stressful situation, they have a chance to improve. Persevering as a unit will make them stronger in the long run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Assess the situation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n