The Reason a Sale is Made, or Not

It’s easy to get puffed up when we make a sale, and even easier to get deflated when we lose one. But do we really know why a sale was made, or why it was lost? Often we don’t.

Seldom do we ask why a sale is made because we know better than to question it. The best thing we can do is stop talking and write up the order. But we should always review every sale to make sure we know what triggered our customer’s decision to buy. Understanding the motive, the reasoning, and the decision-making process is a key to securing the next sale.

And when we fail to make a sale, we should always ask ourselves why. Unless we understand the cause of the loss, we will never be able to learn from it and improve our delivery. We need to dissect the sale process to see what went right and what went wrong. Did we fail to sell ourself, the store, or the product? Was the customer really ready to buy or were they just looking? What would have pushed the person over the edge to commit to buying?

Unless we investigate both our successes and failures, we will never get better. Often we learn more from our failures than successes, but I think we can learn a lot from both. So take the time to review every sale. It’s worth the effort you put into it.

Business Tips:

• Your best customer is an already satisfied customer. Try selling more to people who already trust you. The barrier to a sale is far less.
• Caution: don’t take your best salesperson and make him a sales manager. Great sales traits seldom translate to managerial traits.
• If someone you are close to or work with always insists on being right, ask him if he wants to right all the time or, simply, successful.

Life Tips:

• Don’t be too proud to secure help when you really need it. Everyone needs a mentor to provide advice and counsel.
• If you’re uncomfortable meeting people, try asking questions that get them talking. Most people like to tell their story.
• Care and credibility are keys to all meaningful relationships. Conveying these two essentials to people will build lasting relations.

Tags: Advice, Business, Business Development, Business Tips, Buy, Decision, Delivery, Developing Leaders, Failures, Improve, Knowledge, Leaders, Leadership, Learn, Learning, Lost, Made, Motive, Process, Product, Project Leaders, Question, Reality, Reasoning, Relationships, Reputation, Review, Sale, Sales, Store, Success, Successes, The Mind of a Leader