I once interviewed a top performing sales rep for a best practices study and he told me something that was just so painfully simple.
He told me that when he has those meetings that just seemed doomed from hello, he isn’t bashful about asking for a “do over” or more simply put . . . an opportunity to come back and try it again.
It made me ponder the thought that perhaps we could take situations where . . .
We’ve screwed something up
Lost a client
Lost that opportunity we’ve been working on
And instead of moving full speed ahead and conducting a post mortem . . .
Consider yelling “CLEAR!” as we try to jumpstart the patient by simply . . .
Asking for a do over!
Don’t be so quick to give up on someone’s willingness to give you another chance.
Peace!
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Of course that doesn’t happen to most of us……choke choke – lol
Never James 🙂
Wishing you a fantastic Wednesday my friend!
Surprisingly….this works! I totally botched a call a few months ago, and although the “do over” was painful (and no, I didn’t get the business…yet), the door is still open. And I feel better than if I had just slunk (slinked? What is the past tense of “slink”) away and avoided the issue. Awesome post Paul.
LA
PS – hope your keynote is totally rockin’ today!!
Good Morning Paul! I really love this post. Sometimes the simple ideas can bring the best results. It is like anything else in sales. If you don’t ask, you will never know! What is the worst that can happen? They don’t give you a “do-over”? Thanks!
I agree Tim. Too many times we look for the big, sexy, sophisticated answer when a real simple one might do quite nicely.
Thank you!
Exactly! You are welcome Paul. Take care
One of the hardest things to learn is that its up to them not you. I have learned this truth from women who seem to know this better than men.
Pay attention to the women in your life who teach this…. they know when to move on with a sales situation and when not to….It’s one of the main reasons women are trusted in business ….
Thanks for sharing your thoughts John!
Paul,
Great post as always. I think there is even a degree of respect from the Prospect when you ask for a ‘do-over’. It says to them that you are willing to try it again to make sure that one or both of the two parties did not miss an opportunity!
Cheers,
Larry
Thanks Larry . . . I agree. It takes guts to fess up and ask for another chance.
Good teaching, Paul. A little dose of humility can take you miles ahead of where you were -this post teaches that.
Thanks Jacob!
Hope all is well my friend!
Congrats to you for getting another “at bat” LA . . . you didn’t get the business yet but you will!
Thanks!