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Actually, salesmanship is about getting your price, on your terms and both parties walk away from the table happy and satisfied. I think that, if you lose a sale to a higher priced competitor, it's because you were outsold! Truth Average salespeople believe that buyers care more about the money they might have to spend than they care about fixing their problem with the right solution and the most suitable provider. If your buyer is thinking about the cost not the value, you have failed to sell.
Unfortunately , Bad salespeople steal their prospect's time, take a parental position telling them what they think the prospect needs and build barriers in their relationship with the buyer. On opposite Great salespeople are like a doctor with a great bedside manner. They're excellent diagnosticians, they make sure you feel comfortable with them, human being to human being. They let you feel that you are the only object of their attention. They ask you gentle, nurturing questions to get under the surface of your problem, even when the subject matter is difficult and uncomfortable. By coaxing you into telling your story, and listening for insight, not simply for understanding, they gain a genuine appreciation for what is happening, how it's affecting you and others around you, what it's costing you in terms of time, money, resources, reputation, opportunity cost, career progression etc., and thereby build value in your mind as you self-diagnose your problem's cause. By the time the conversation turns to money, money is no longer the issue. They aren't thinking "How much will this cost me?", they're thinking, "Where am I going to find the money I need to invest in solving this?". That is why you lost the deal to your much higher priced competitor. You were outsold. I had just displaced with zero resistance and no objections from my prospect/client. I stress, they did all the hard work. I may have facilitated these transformations by teaching them how to sell professionally and ethically; by teaching them to value themselves, their time, their expertise and to maintain their rate card prices by finding the value their customers are willing to pay for, and helping them to realize they can ask for and receive much more than "market rate", but they did all the heavy lifting.
Bear in mind that, among the most satisfying things about selling in this way is you never make the sale unless it is a win for both sides, both sides are comfortable and happy with the decision to work together and there is no game playing, negative manipulation or posturing in the process. You start and remain in a parity position with your prospect who is never more than your equal, even on your worst day. And since both sides have the right to say "no" at any point in the sale, neither side feels any pressure to buy or make the sale.
there are many reasons to lose the sales , these reaons starts from the first step of doing sales activity to the close od won or lost deal , we can define the following reasons :
1- hitting the wrong market or wrong customers ( customer evaluation)
2- hitting the wrong contacts or decision makers
3- bad communication and weak language
4- wrong way of self introduction or company introduction
5- misunderstanding the customer's requirements
6- offering wrong products
7-Lieing or giving wrong information
8-failur demonstrations or presentations
9-mistakes in proposals and quotations
10- late proposals or quotations and bad response
11- being far from market prices
12-not recognizing customer's purchase indications
13- bad followup (neglecting or chasing )
14-not trying to know customer's budget and payment capabilities
15-weak relationship with customer
16-poor market knowledge
17- weak salesman always says I will check
18- wrong behaviour with customers
19- putting unreasonable conditions and insisting on them
20- delay in collecting downpayment.
Have you heard the saying that: “Customers don’t buy from businesses, they buy from people”? It’s true! Make sure you (or whoever is dealing with the customer) develop real rapport before delivering a quote. This means that the customer feels they are personally understood and that they would like to work with you. How do you do that? Ask them questions, get them agreeing with you, get them laughing, demonstrate your knowledge, and above all, show them respect.
Even if you did develop rapport, you also have to demonstrate your professionalism and competence. After all, the kid down the road can have a good rapport with your customer but they’re hardly going to win the work. Make sure you get some basics right like professional dress (a company uniform can look great), being on time, taking detailed notes, being respectful of your customer (eg taking shoes off at their house, being understanding of past decisions they may have taken), and leave them liking AND respecting you.
Speed sends a message about how efficiently your business operates, how organised you are, and how much you value this customer. Set a goal timeframe for sending quotes to customers after their initial request or your site visit and make sure you stick to it! Although this depends on the industry and the complexity of the quote, in most cases small businesses should be able to prepare and send customer quotes out within 2 days.
Did you give your customer a clear reason to choose your business over the others? Do you have a clear reason? If it’s not clear to you, chances are it’s not clear to a potential customer! Think of what’s important to your customers and make sure your business stands out on at least one of these measures. (It could be speed to deliver, your amazing guarantee, the quality of your workmanship, your design, your payment options, your track record, etc.)
Why do so many small businesses spend precious time developing rapport and designing a great solution, and then deliver a lousy one-page quote containing not much more than a few numbers? It’s time to up your game because the way you present your quote sends a message about the way you’ll work – and no client wants to engage with a business that takes the easiest route possible. Instead, take some time to develop a professional quote template that you can use over and over again. At a minimum, this should include an outline of the client’s wishes / needs, your proposed solution, details about how you work, some reassurance from other clients, etc. See this article on 8 things to include in every sales proposal.
There is nothing that will turn a customer away faster than them feeling as though you didn’t understand their wishes. Take the time to ask all the right questions so that you are on the same page as them. Don’t make assumptions and don’t deliver a cookie-cutter quote just because it’s easier! If your business has a standardised way of delivering your product/solution, you’ll have to take the time to win them over to that way before you send the quote.
Your customer will not give you the sale unless they have confidence in your ability to do the work well. Yes, you can explain why you’ll need to use extra equipment, take extra time, research some elements of the work – but don’t make it seem as though this is difficult! Too many times I’ve had tradespeople shake their heads and look worried, or professionals start listing all the problems with my project – this doesn’t make a customer feel comfortable! Make sure your customer feels that you’ve done similar projects before without glitches and you’re looking forward to working on their project.
Thanks for the invitation Sir.
I fully endorse answer given by Mr. Sayed Fathy
because :
Thanks again Mr. Mohamed for your kind invitation and here I copy the answer to your question :
10 Reasons Why You Just Lost That Deal With Your Sales Strategy
Part of the sales strategy plan and a sales profession is to be able to lose a deal or at least be able to handle it. We can’t handle it and generally we go on a rollercoaster ride of emotion thereafter, especially if your sales strategy is not working time after time.
The problems with losing a deal is that sometimes we just don’t know what happened, certain deals were cancelled, contracts were dismissed right at the last minute.
A new vendor or solution to an existing one is actually a pain for a company. The fear of moving, or habitual change is something few of us can handle without feeling lost and worried. If you haven’t been able to explain and demonstrate how simple your solution really is, you should expect people to pull out of a deal at the last minute.
In your sales strategy plan, prove the simplicity and stress free potential with your with testimonials and data – if you can do this you’ll remove the majority of fear.
Risk is one of the vital decision making thoughts that we make on a B2B buying level. Not only are jobs on the line, but careers in general can be ruined by a poor purchase. Deals fall through when you’ve not been able to either remove or limit the thought of risk.
Identify these perceived pain points early on in your sales strategy and answer any and all questions that are associated with risk; time, cost, previous problems, fixes for problems etc. Being transparent is a great way to build trust which begins the process of removing risk.
In B2B sales, many deals are considered a business partnership. People work with business partners if they trust them and they can support each other, rarely do you see enemies going into business together.
Become friends with the customer on all levels, if you’ve got common interests then speak about it. Everything about you needs to be trust worthy in the long run; commonalities are great ways to overcome any hurdles and this must be part of your sales strategy plan.
Sales professionals are notorious for making bold claims about their company and product. Everyone is used to it now; all that clients want to see is proof of claims made and data to back it all up.
When you state some facts and figures, which will be in your sales strategy, make sure you send everything over to the clients. It doesn’t take a genius to know that if you don’t send anything you’ve just positioned yourself as an untrustworthy person who also potentially lie’s.
We all have a go at sourcing information and advice, be it a forum or another professional with greater experience.
The champion is going to ensure all queries come to you, if you don’t respond or give poor advice chances are you won’t be giving advice again.
Always ensure you give full attention and expertise for these accounts, the champions are willing to speak highly of you.
Your focus on price has underwhelmed or overwhelmed the client; price is rarely the first and final consideration for going ahead with a deal. However the lowest price and highest price rarely ever get the deal either. So, focus on the pricing structure within the sales strategy plan as this is vital.
If you fail to describe or show how the product has a direct company fit then you’ll never win over the account regardless of your price or experience. The company wants to make the process cost efficient, if the transition has problems, costs begin to add up.
Before an account commits to you and your offer they need an advisor, which needs to be you. As an advisor you’re capable of showing your expertise and knowledge in the respective industry.
At times, you should even pinpoint your competitors and mention their positive traits, it may sound counterproductive especially for a sales person, but the trust you gain is unparalleled to anything else you can do for the same results.
If you’re not able to be a relevant and expert advisor then the chances of committing to your offer is going to be minimal and your sales strategy will fail no matter how good your product or service.
When sending a proposal, the client is going to use it as a source of information or as a yard stick both for you and your competitors. In order to limit the sales cycle from getting even longer or your competitors stealing the competition, make the proposal time sensitive.
Clients need the time to consider your offer, but they don’t need another year or more to do it. Take account of ‘time importance’ in your sales strategy plan. Offering a time sensitive or one time offer is going to create urgency. Without that urgency you’ve just basically given your competitors your customer.
Everyone wants a price or a quote, going back to the point above; the proposal is something that needs to be guarded by you.
Again, if the prospect isn’t willing to have a conversation about your offer then they are unlikely to go ahead until they’ve done enough research with your proposal as a yard stick.
Your product is overly complex and the pitch fails to show an easy company fit. One of the biggest headaches in terms of risk and costs is swapping over from vendor to vendor. The last thing any company wants is to move from a vendor that’s been smooth in function, but costly in the long run compared to a company that’s cheap but full of mishaps and broken promises.
Your offer may be complex, but focus on making sure the client has fully understood everything as you deliver this in your sales strategy, leave little to the imagination.
Even in a sound sales strategy plan, a lot of the times deals are lost because of the pointers above, sometimes however, they could be for a completely different reason. If you happen to lose a client, ask them what happened and use it for future purposes.
If you’ve got all of the pointers and other problems noted from above, there’s little left to risk when attempting to close a deal.
Can you add any pointers to the list above?
source : http://businessbanter.com/business-marketing/10-reasons-why-you-just-lost-that-deal-with-your-sales-strategy/
Once we use the definite article (The) we mean something that is only one or very specific e.g The planet Earth, The river Nile , The President, The queen and so on.
What do you mean by (the sale)
To answer this question we need to know which one because you are never going to win every presentation and turn it into a close.
You will win some and lose others and this is very natural.
We have to move away from the school examination concept that we have to answer all the questions and must produce the right answers. If you are selling a mall building for example you may make presentations to 100 prospective buyers but you need only one to buy, and if you get that 1/100 you got the full selling mark.
Totall agreed wth experts answer........
Especially Mr. Sayed Fathy & Mr. Nadjib Rabahi answer
Thank you for the invitation and I agree with Professor Syed
Lead not materialized due to lack of co-ordination in sales team
Lead information not sufficient to proceed further
Lead successfully converted to prospect, but not materialised to sales after poor follow up
Prospect succesful but not converted to confirmed sales due to product value not meeting customer requirement
Confirmed sales failed due to competition challenge
The sale may be lost for the following reasons:
1.Lack of rapport building with the customers.
2. Pricing decision is not correct.(may be overvalued)
3. Marketing strategies were not effecrtive.Product attributes and value addition to the operation were not explained to the customers and customers were not conviced.
4. Operational support, maintenance and product warranty were not explained properly to the customer.
