Have you ever blamed a lost sale on a prospect's personality or action?
- Don't allow yourself to get caught up in the "that-guy-wouldn't-buy-from-anyone" syndrome.
- Do take responsibility
Many salespeople have a tendency to externalize their problems, rather than accept the responsibility for what's going on in their base of business - and in their careers. Guess what? Whatever is happening in your relationship with a prospect or customers - whether it's success or failure - is your responsibility. Whatever is happening in your career - whether you have a good territory or a bad territory, a good manager or a bad manager - is your responsibility.
At the end of the day, you are the only professional salesperson in your own world. If somethings gets screwed up, you and only you could have screwed it up. Don't return to your office and say, "I guess I had a personality clash with the prospect." Your job is to give the prospect any personality he needs!
Accept responsibility for your own choices and actions. This is a core principle, not only of the Sandler Selling System, but of a healthy approach to life. In the specific case of selling, it's particularly important to come to terms with this Rule, because the majority of salespeople are inclined to avoid assuming personal and professional responsibility when things go wrong. In most cases, sales people externalize their problems and failures. They point the finger of blame at, among other things, the prospect, the customer, the economy, the competition, their own management, and so on. That's what most people are doing - including your competition. That means that you can establish a competitive and personal advantage just by building your day, and your career, around this rule. (See also Rule #35: If Your Competition Does It, Stop Doing It Right Away.)
It all goes back to learning from your mistakes. If you point the finger of blame at the prospect, you deprive yourself of the opportunity to learn from the mistake, which means you're destined to repeat it. Even if you keep the "blame game" to yourself - by thinking things like, "He was never going to buy," "He was a jerk," or "She was locking in," - you should know that these internal statements are depriving you of the opportunity to learn.
What can you learn?
So: What can you learn from the "no" you just received? It shouldn't be that it was impossible to close a sale with the person you were trying to sell to. That kind of "lesson" only sets you up for failure. What else could you have done differently? What will you do differently next time? What responsibilities will you accept for what happened, or didn't happen?
Use turndowns - and other apparent obstacles - as an opportunity to sharpen your selling skills.
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