Do you regularly contact failed sales and train customers? Otherwise, you could be missing out on viable prospects.

It’s easy to think of a lost customer as lost forever. That might be true, but if you don’t keep up with previous clients, you could be unnecessarily sealing your fate.

WHY YOU SHOULD REVISIT PAST CLIENTS

The client who let his contract expire or did not include him in his selection process did so for several reasons. Yes, sometimes his company made an unforgivable mistake or did something equally fatal. Often it is subtle. Either way, if you give up on them, they will likely remain old customers forever.

If you take the initiative and reintroduce yourself, you may find…

• Your business was deemed unsuitable for a reason that is currently invalid. (His prices from him weren’t competitive; now they are. He didn’t offer a one-stop-shop experience; now he does. The vendor who used to cover that territory was abrasive; his replacement is much appreciated.)
• Either the decision maker who rejected you or was unwaveringly loyal to your competitor is no longer there.
• Or the person who used to routinely include you in the company’s selection process has moved up or moved, and the new person doesn’t know you to include you.

Possible outcomes: a renewed relationship, news that you really aren’t a match anymore, or a cold shoulder.

WHY YOU SHOULD REVIEW FAILED SALES

Similarly, with failed sales, you may not have been chosen when a particular decision was made. That doesn’t mean they’ll never consider you again, but it’s your responsibility to stay on their radar. If they are marketed by enough companies in your category, they may not include you the next time they open their selection process. By discarding them, you turn “no” into “never”.

WHO SHOULD COME?

Some companies are very good at asking leaving customers for an exit interview and asking failed sales for a post-selection report. Unfortunately, many of these companies assign this task to the salesperson or account manager that the customer or prospect has just rejected. That’s cruel! Think about it:

• It’s very difficult for one adult to say directly to another, “This is how you let me down” or “This is where you fell short.”
• If a previous customer or a failed sale is willing to come clean, the average salesperson or account manager is likely to become defensive in response. In other words, they reward candor with an argument.

Instead, it’s best to solicit feedback on lost customers and failed sales from the VP of Sales or Account Management (or Operations). What at first glance seems like a reckless use of valuable time turns out to be the best way to isolate the root causes and reduce the number of future lost customers and failed sales.

You can ask why a previous customer or failed sale would cooperate and offer honest answers to these questions. The answer is simple:

Companies need suppliers.

If you lost the customer or the sale for reasons that can be addressed to your satisfaction, you may be the provider that offers the best deal the next time you need your product or service.

Once your team members get over the understandable awkwardness of asking for honest feedback and guidance, you just might win (or recapture) relationships you thought were lost forever.