From the course: Sales Fundamentals

Bouncing back from rejection

From the course: Sales Fundamentals

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Bouncing back from rejection

(upbeat music) - Ugh, no matter how you sugarcoat it, losing a deal can be painful. But your ability to reset yourself is crucial for your success and for your other customers. - First, let's talk about what actually constitutes a lost deal. The most obvious scenario is the customer saying no to a proposal, but other forms of rejection come from "not now", or the customer going with a competitor, or even ghosting you. - They all hurt, but in my experience, very rarely is a deal considered lost forever. Seasoned salespeople, and we see this all the time in our business, you have contacts who say no at first, but then a year, or maybe a few years later, which can seem like a long time, but it does happen, you reconnect and you move forward, sometimes with the original solution, sometimes with something even better. - But that doesn't mean it's not disappointing in the moment. However, you got to remember, you can't just close the door, cover your ears, and try and forget that it ever happened. You have to learn from it, bounce back, and keep the conversation alive. (upbeat music) - So we wanted to talk to one of the most effective salespeople we know, and that's Kurt Shriner. He is executive vice president at Atlantic Capital Bank, long time salesperson, leads a big sales team, and we wanted to talk to him. Kurt, how does your team reset after they've had a loss? - It's a bit of a sports analogy, but one of the things that was always important is that you watch your game films whether you've won or lost you watched game films to see how you how you perform and how you can get better. So when you have a setback or a loss, Elizabeth, it's important for you to step back and say, Okay, what did we do well? What didn't we do well ? And to have an honest conversation about that. Not a conversation that's seeking to point blame. What you're trying to do is say, "Okay, what did we learn from this "and how do we get better?" - Do you think people consider a deal, lost, too early? - A good client is a good client, whether they said yes this time, or perhaps your opportunity is going to come later. There are times when, you know, the choice that the client has made is because we might not have been the right fit for them at this stage. But they also know that maybe a step or two down the road, we're the perfect fit for them. So, the key is, when you're calling on that company, is just don't make maintenance calls. What you're doing is you're trying to bring them ideas, and you're continuing to learn about the challenges and opportunities they have ahead of them. And as you do that, you've developed a kind of an encyclopedia of knowledge about that prospect, and ultimately sometimes, maybe on that third stage, you really win a lion's share opportunity. Because now you've solved their strategic problem for them, not a short term tactical problem. So it's one of those things. If it's a good company and a prospect you want to work with, you know, stick with it. - How do you maintain a relationship, even if the person ultimately says no? - Yeah. You can't be in this business and take take nos personally, because if you do, you just won't ultimately be successful long term. If you take a no personally, that to me means, you're just making the business all about you. And there are so many other constituencies that you're serving, everything from the shareholders that have invested in your company, to the employees that, the teammates you have on your team, and to ultimately being able to provide that client or prospect with a good opportunity. So, now you want to step back and say, "Okay, am I taking the no personally?" And if I am, which you try not, to know why. Yeah, sometimes you just have to, you know, step back from the heat of the moment and not find yourself in that emotional moment of, you know, "I lost, I don't like to lose." But, you know, if you if you make it about you, your prospects and clients will soon figure that out. And the key is you've got to be focused on them. And you've got to be focused on how are you providing them with, you know, knowledge and solutions and ideas that ultimately help them grow. And when you're doing that, you really begin to realize it's not about you. It's about them. And if you do that you tend to, you know, take the losses less personally. - (upbeat music) - The best thing you can do after you lose a deal is reset to your higher purpose, and as painful as it may be, decide you're going to learn from it.

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