There’s nothing quite like the feeling of closing a sale. Whether it’s a large sale or a small one, salespeople celebrate first and then try to understand why they won so they can replicate their success.
There is much more to be learnt from losing, however, yet most salespeople do not know how to gather accurate and meaningful information from prospects to learn from their losses.
Salespeople often ask prospects why they lost a deal, but they typically don’t get a straight answer. In fact, according to proprietary sales research data, prospects tell salespeople the complete truth about why they lost less than half the time.
In fact, research has shown that salespeople learn the complete and accurate truth about 40% of the time. In other words, in 60% of new business situations, salespeople do not have a complete and accurate understanding of why they lost.
Hiding the truth
There are many reasons why prospects are not candid during debriefs including:
- Prospects do not want to hurt the salesperson’s feelings
- Prospects fear confrontation and/or criticism from sales reps
- Prospects often have issues with the sales rep or sales process that can impact their candour.
Your role
There are also many ways in which salespeople inhibit the feedback process.
- Salespeople are often caught off guard by a bad news call and may be unprepared for conducting a debrief
- Salespeople usually do not know the right post-sale questions to ask (and how to ask them).
Getting good feedback
Below are seven ways for you to improve your post-sales etiquette and get more candid feedback from prospects post-decision:
1. Give early notification that you will conduct a debrief
In order to make the prospect comfortable and illicit honest and, more importantly, actionable feedback, you should let the prospect know early in the sales process that regardless of the outcome, you will be conducting a post-decision debrief call at the end of the process.
2. Schedule a separate debrief call
Do not debrief on the same call as when you hear about a loss. When you hear about a loss, prospects have one goal in mind, to get you off the phone as quickly as possible. Therefore, getting good feedback is always challenging. Instead, schedule a separate debrief call after you have accepted the loss and let the prospect know that you will not try to change their decision.
3. Use a debrief guide
Using a questionnaire maximises feedback and keeps the conversation focused. As a result, research has shown that salespeople who use a debrief questionnaire have a 15% higher close rate than those who do not.
4. Take responsibility
Make sure that you really want candid feedback; prospects will be able to tell if you don’t. Don’t get defensive or angry, don’t debate with the prospect and don’t try to resell the prospect.
5. Take notes
Tell the prospect that you’ll be taking notes. This will make them feel important and make them feel compelled to talk more. Your average debrief should last about 10-15 minutes.
6. Probe for specifics
Ask “How do you mean?” or “Say more.” Other great ways of getting candid feedback include asking, “How can I improve on this”, “How can I make it better?” or “Can I get your advice?”
7. Consider having someone else conduct your debriefs
Once you have a debrief guide, you could have someone else within your company conduct the debrief (such as an inside wholesaler or cold caller). You could also find someone outside of your company to do this work for you. If you are running a sales team, consider hiring an outside third party to conduct Win/Loss interviews on behalf of your entire sales team.
Unlocking information
By implementing a process for conducting better debrief calls, you will unlock a vast source of prospect information which will allow for continuous sales improvement. This process will ultimately increase your close rate for years to come.
