I attended a session this week and the speaker broke down winning and losing in sales to two very simple statistics. One highlighted the most important factor in winning and the second reinforced the reason we lose customers. The format I am using is in honor of my Loyola Professors.
What:
Winning – 86% of the time when asked what the most important factor was in making a purchasing decision the respondents answered – the representative.
Losing – 2/3rd of the time we lose a customer, the respondents stated a breakdown in communication with the representative was the deciding factor.
So What:
Winning and losing is all about us. We can blame poor pricing, the wrong carrier distribution, lack of cooperation, game playing, lying, cheating, ignorant buyers and bad luck as the reasons we lose. Let’s face the facts. All that stuff makes us feel better in defeat, but is little more than a litany of poor excuses. It reminds me of listening to our son’s lacrosse team who never lost a game against “legal” competition. They always lost to older boys – in fact, I think we lost to a couple of high school teams before his 12th birthday. He and his friends could easily convince themselves that any tournament allowed college teams in the youth divisions. I was watching the interviews of the Tennessee Titans following their loss to the Ravens and found the comments of their running back, Lendell White to be very interesting. He was asked about the costly turnovers and mistakes made by the Titans in the game. Did he think those cost the Titans the game. His response showed tremendous character. He said, he felt as it was his turnover that cost them the game. Accountability. More importantly, accountability to himself. I liked that. I thought that showed incredible character. He was the reason they lost, in his mind.
Now What:
Now I don’t know what a football player does in the offseason to not fumble. Maybe they lift weights to make their arms stronger. Maybe they watch film to see if they expose the football in certain situations making them vulnerable to fumbles. Maybe they set a goal to lower their fumble numbers. I really don’t know. I think the statistics noted above suggest some very powerful indicators of why we win or lose so if we accept the same level of personal accountability, what can we do? We are the most important element of the victory and our failures are the most significant factor in defeat. It seems to me this leaves only one option – get better. Everyone likes to win and no one likes to lose – forget this notion of some people like to win more than others. Or that some hate losing more than others. If this were true, then they only give drivers licenses to the ultra competitive. Watch drivers compete for a parking spot or for the right-of-way. People want it their way. It’s just that some may handle the outcome better.
Winning for a sales organization is defined as growing the number of ideal customers we serve. To win more often and to lose less frequently – we must continually get better. Because, guess what, if you don’t, then you are only one “communication breakdown” away from losing. We must relentlessly question what we are doing. Is what we do, good enough for today? Do we wear the same clothes, drive the same kind of cars, eat the same food, enjoy the same music, TV shows, movies, etc? My guess is that in most cases our tastes and needs have changed. Why then should we expect to do the same things we did in the past and get the better results? For me the “now what’ is to recognize I am 86% of the reason for success and also 66% of the reason for failure. If I get better, improve in some way, can I increase my effectiveness and limit my errors? We will see and as a consequence I look forward to 2009.
