Lost Sales Analysis

Lost Sales Analysis

No matter how good you are ‘you can’t win them all’ and painful as it might be you’ll never learn how to improve your offer and understand where you fit in the competitive landscape, unless you do so.

As George Santayana (a Spanish, a philosopher, essayist, poet and novelist; we looked it up) said “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

However you should also consider conducting a ‘Won Sales Analysis’ and try to work out whom you appeal to and target this audience in the future. The subject of ‘won sales analysis’ is probably something we’ll return to in a future blog post.

Lost Sales Analysis – Step By Step

1. Who – Who should conduct the lost sales analysis? Budget allowing it’s probably best to get a third party to conduct the analysis because;
   1. There is no emotional connection between a third party and your prospect and therefore no chance of damaging a bond that may have developed between the parties
   2. A third party should ideally be experienced in conducting this type of analysis

2. When – It depends;
   1. Within four weeks while it still fresh and before the new relationship might be under pressure
   2. Later – After the dust settles and emotions might not be heightened
   3. When depends on the circumstances – It’s probably a blog piece on its own

3. What – Decide which questions to ask. Have a look here https://www.b2bsell.com/portfolio-item/scotsman-download/ we feel the SCOTSMAN analysis is a objective way to assess where you stand in the sales process

So Lost Sales Analysis or Won Sales Analysis. One needs to look at both in order to get a proper perspective but be careful not to throw the ‘baby out with the bath water’. In other words don’t lose what helps you to win sales at the cost of trying to win sales you’re not going to win anyway. However, you might just pick up on something obvious to your prospect but not self-evident to you.