Why does a salesperson lose a sale?

It’s a question I’ve studied for years, as part of the win-loss analysis research I conduct.

There’s a tendency to assume that the salesperson lost because their product was inferior in some way. However, in the majority of interviews buyers rank all the feature sets of the competing products as being roughly equal. This suggests that other factors separate the winner from the losers.

In order to identify these hidden decision-making factors, more than 230 buyers completed a 76-part survey. The research project goals were to understand how customers perceive the salespeople they meet with, explore the circumstances that determine which vendor is selected, and learn how different company departments and vertical industries make buying decisions. We had six key research findings:

Source - Read More at: hbr.org

My Dad always gave me the best advice growing up, saying that nothing bad ever happens, as long as you can learn something from it. 

With that in mind, whenever we lose a deal, I always encourage the team to do an ‘autopsy’ of the deal, to try to figure out what went wrong, so we can do it differently next time.

Granted sometimes it is just not meant to be…in our case, in the world of SALES RECRUITERS , we essentially need a 200% sale.

We need to make sure that it is the perfect match for the hiring manager, in terms of what he or share is looking for, and also we need to ensure that the opportunity aligns with what the candidate is looking for, at that specific time in his or her career. Compensation,  location, commute time , the produce and service sold, tangible or intangible, all factor in to the final decision. 

In this terrific article from the Harvard Business Review, they outline 6 distinct factors that typically contribute into determining if someone will make a buying decision. It is well worth the read, as we all strive to educate ourselves in increasing the likelihood of getting the sale .

For all of your sales recruiting needs ,please consider reaching out to International Search Consultants. 

ISC has been providing high performing sales professionals to our clients interview tables since 1999. 

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