In case you are wondering, our title is part of the chorus from Beck’s “Loser“.
Fighting a good fight and losing with dignity are the hallmarks of a true sales warrior.
Hear me now my sales brethren, we are all technically losers. We lose…a lot. In our world, a guy who loses 80% of the time is a star.
Unless you are dealing in funeral plots, business purchases, especially in technology, are finite. A 10 year old airplane is still “new”, but 3 year old technology is an antique. Things wear out, times change, technology evolves and the opportunity to win (and lose) a client comes around more than one would think.
In fact, the moment you receive notification that you have not been selected is the time to start treating that prospect as brand new. Lose a technology deal today, the odds are reasonable that you will have a second chance before the next Presidential election.
While it is tempting, the worst thing you can do is panic and fire off an angry email or phone call back to the prospect. I watched this happen a few times and was surprised how those came back to bite us, sometimes years later, squarely in the butt, either via an employee who changed jobs and was now at another prospect or via a luke warm reception by a potential business partner who was an incumbent at one of the recipients of our anger-induced communications.
A worse sin than the angry email is throwing out an incredibly stupid discount. The stupidity factor jumps dramatically when it is your boss who offers the discount.
“We just feel like we are such a natural fit for your project that I have waived all profit margins in attempt to earn your business”.
Your boss is thinking “That will really show them how much we want their business, and gosh I’m still a helluva of sales guy”, while your prospect is thinking “Ok schmuck, you were sitting on a great discount for the entire six months we evaluated your solution, and then in the eleventh hour you bring it out? Yeah, go pound sand. “
One of the top analysts in the content management space, Tony Byrne at CMS Watch (www.cmswatch.com) just posted a story about such a deal that took place..
“[Product X] – normally valued at 250K plus 20% of maintenance, currently offered at 65K plus 25K in maintenance. Get a full solution for under 100K! “
Check out the article here
In the age of Web 2.0, blogs, and social networks, throwing out deals of this nature can come back to haunt you.
1 response so far ↓
Coder28 // October 10, 2009 at 1:21 pm |
But you are lost in minutiae, barry. ,