Page 42 - GS170901

Education

Learning from loss A pivotal meeting

The next morning we held a meeting
leads to future wins with all departments involved in the
sales process. We conducted a post
By Jeff Fortney mortem, an autopsy of the sale, so to
speak. I sat in the back of the room and
Clearent LLC expected to hear a long discussion
about what we did wrong. Looking
arly in my payments career, I helped a national salesperson with a at the lead salesperson, though, I did
proposal for a merchant with $100 million in annual revenue. It had not see the devastation I expected.
been a long 18 months since I had written the initial request for pro- Before the meeting, I had asked him
E posal (RFP), and we were one of two finalists. Finally, we received what he expected. He replied, "You
word the board was making a decision on Tuesday, and we would know by 3 watch." So I did.
p.m. if we were selected.
The head of sales came in, and his
The RFP was 108 pages, and there were three formal presentations, including words surprised me. "We did better
one in front of the merchant's board of directors. Eight people from our company than I expected and had a shot all
were at the meeting, representing various departments. The time commitment the way up to the end. Good job
was significant over those 18 months, so we were all anxious to hear the results. everyone. What did we do right with
This wasn't my deal, but I had an emotional involvement and was sweating the this opportunity?"
results along with the salesperson and many others. This wasn't a dressing down about
our failure, but instead a discussion
Finally, Tuesday arrived, but 3 p.m. came and went. There was no call. At 4 of what was successful about the
p.m., we finally heard they chose our competitor. offering, lessons learned and how to
incorporate those lessons in the next
offering. He closed with, "So which
opportunity is up next on the list?"

I was shocked, then relieved that
there was no dressing down. We had
not failed. The sales process was a
success even though the merchant
signed elsewhere. There were lessons
learned that would be put in place to
help our future efforts.

From this, I realized there are three
successful results from any sales
effort:
1. Yes
2. No
3. Positive next step
Post-mortem questions

I learned from this experience that
not all lost sales stop there. Many
rejections are filled with lessons that
may make the next no a yes. Contrary
to a common belief that you should
move quickly to the next opportunity
after a no, you have to pause long
enough to find the lessons so you
don't ignore or repeat them. That
effort should begin immediately after
the final no by asking the following
questions:

42