Welcome to 2011. Is this the year that you will finally create a process to extract meaningful strategic actions from your time-consuming tactical activities? Why not start with Win/Loss Analysis? Win/Loss Analysis, or post-decision interviews, historically have been one-time events conducted by sales personnel after a vendor has finished second in the final decision process and the singular-focused objective is to discover any last minute opportunity or opening to still secure the business. This is wrong in every way, but, most importantly, there is a missed opportunity to align with your buyer. Therefore, it is imperative that companies continually monitor client perception and sales performance after every opportunity, regardless of a win or a loss, to glean “actionable” knowledge. The interview that rates, weights and ranks the sales cycle process is also the same vehicle that discovers buyer processes, buyer decision criteria, as well as company and competitor attributes (core competencies).
Excellent insight can be gained from post-decision interviews to validate your company core competencies, sales positioning, buyer priorities and perceptions. As a New Year’s gift, I would like to share some of my favorite lessons learned extracted from hundreds of post-decision interviews. Would any of the following help you better understand your buyer?
- Trust and honesty are big factors in winning complex sales cycle decisions and disparaging remarks about the competition undermines those virtues;
- The sales representative is the only means of a prospect estimating the potential customer service quality, so sales reps must provide quick, anecdotal and accurate responses;
- Complex sales processes are circumvented when the prospect’s needs (product differentiation) or expectations (demonstration) are not established prior to the validation stage (site visit);
- The vendor vision is the “beast that aligns partners,” so fine-tune your vision presentation;
- Never miss an opportunity to show off headquarters personnel behind your solution – It may be a differentiator;
- Most prospects would rather buy an older product than a “shiny” unfinished one;
- Everyone is rated #1 by someone. It is easier to apologize for too much attention when positioning a #1 company than it is to have a prospect perceive itself as just another number. Therefore, large companies should transform “biggest” or “largest” nomenclature into “overwhelming attention”;
- Integrity is positioned by the sales person’s truthfulness and is positively influenced by quick responses, especially by executives, to prospect inquiries during the sales cycle. Furthermore, don’t hesitate to respond with, “I don’t know,” when answers are not known;
- Preface all provided client reference contacts to be expecting a call from your prospect. Align similar culture and functions for the prospect/client correspondence because prospects don’t have the time or vision to see beyond current state;
- Any corporate news making national headlines during the sales cycle should be communicated to the prospects first because competitors will certainly remind them;
- Pre-qualify the prospect’s past vendor experiences as well as future needs because “comfort/familiarity” trumps “best product” much of the time!
I hope that you read some lessons that you can apply within your organization. Make a resolution today to stop wasting valuable time on efforts that don’t:
- Align you with your buyer;
- Produce “actionable” data;
- Enable a better understanding of your core competencies (key attributes);
- Produce better sales results and products;
- Improve your brand!
