Forged Under Fire
Forged Under Fire
I lost out on two big contracts the last two weeks. Typically I don’t let losses like these affect me mentally. Sales is no different from sports in that you can’t win them all. And if you allow the losses to get under your skin, then you’ve lost in more ways than one. Having said that, it’s one thing to know and it’s another thing to do. Having just started a new job at the beginning of the year, I was especially anxious to land these deals in order to hit the ground running. So although I tried not to get down too much, I have to confess I took it rather hard. I didn’t have much skin in one of the deals, so I wasn’t counting on that one too much. But the other deal was a long time customer. And even though I can rationalize and tell myself that it was a business decision based on a lower price from a competitor, it still hurt. But what can you do?
It’s OK to take some time to gather your wits and even feel sorry for yourself, just as long as you don’t revel in your sorrow too long that it affects your future performance. Whenever you have a lot of time vested in a deal and a long term relationship is involved, losing a deal in that situation can understandably cause even the most vetern war horse to grieve. But if you have to grieve, get over it quickly.
One of the best ways to get over losing a deal is to learn from the loss. Losses can either make you stronger or they will make your weaker. Only you can decide how a loss will impact your future. After a short grieving period, I am determined to learn from the loss and continue forward with even greater resolve. I believe in my skills and will continue to build on them and improve myself on a daily basis. I know that I can only control myself. I cannot control competitors that chose to give away their services. I cannot control the fact that some of my competitors have much less overhead than my company does. I cannot control buyers that chose to use low-bid as their only criterion.
I can control how hard I work, how much I know, how honest I am, how smart I work and how much value I bring to my customers. By reminding myself that we learn more from our defeats than we do from our victories, I can control whether losing a deal weakens me or stregthens me. By reminding myself that metal is made stronger by exposing it to fire, I can control my mental attitude. I can remind myself that it’s not the problems that your are facing that is important, it’s how you face your problems that counts.
