You just got the email—you lost that deal to a competitor… again. This was the big one. The contract that was going to set your future success and allow your firm to grow its revenue and reputation.
Meetings are called immediately to review why the deal was lost, where it potentially fell apart and how you will take steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again. The sales management team, senior leadership and even the salesperson trying to consummate the deal are all in the room to pour over each detail.
This, of course, is both a reasonable and effective strategy to push improvement in your business and work toward losing fewer deals in the future.
But let’s flip the scenario.
The call comes in letting you know you won that deal you have been working 6 months to close. This was a big one. The contract that is going to set your future success and allow your firm to grow its revenue and reputation.
Immediately after, congratulatory emails and calls are received and maybe your team goes to happy hour to celebrate.
There is something missing here.
Why was there no meeting called to review the win? Why did you win it, where did the deal all come together, who stepped up? Most importantly, how will you make sure it DOES happen again?
We are quick to find faults and critique failures in our business efforts—it’s what business schools, mentors and continuous improvement experts have taught us to do. We are really good at it. Why, then, do we not apply that same discipline to positive outcomes?
Having spent quite a few years in sales, this hypocritical scenario played itself out with the reliability of a Swiss watch. Losses are examined, dissected and even used as political fodder among conniving managers bucking for the next promotion. Wins are usually recognized, briefly celebrated and then fade quickly among the competing business priorities.
Not understanding your success is a direct route to failure. Assuming your business wants more successes, it only makes sense that you should understand what made you successful in tremendous detail. Simply looking at where you failed provides a “Don’t do” list. Wins provide part of the road map for your organization.
Start looking at your wins and go back, where possible, and look at previous successes. This is not just an exercise for sales. Organizational successes happen every day in your HR, finance, recruiting and IT departments. Understanding WHY and HOW you won are as important as why you may have failed so treat those wins with the same scrutiny. You should know how to replicate your success as much as avoiding failure.