Know-How Exchange : Research/Metrics

I would call each and ask them for their help. Then ask them the few questions. Thank them and send a Starbucks card in the mail as a thank you. You might even start up the sales process agian with some.

Hi Boris,

Can you share with us the response you got when calling prospects asking why they choose not to buy your product? My experience with this approach, even with the motivational incentives suggested by Harry, is that most prospects do not give an (honest) answer. After they have made their decision, they don't want to be bothered explaining themselves to rejected vendors, especially if they fear you see this as an opportunity to repeat your selling arguments and have them reconsider their decision.

My alternative: start with a larger sample (not just the contacted prospects, but also existing customers of your competitors) and first ask them positive questions, such as 'what are your needs for X type of software products' and 'which product are using right now and why?' instead of the more negative 'why did you not buy from us'? Once they understand you put their needs first, you can ask questions like 'which of your needs are not fully satisfied by the current product' and have them rank them in terms of priority. This will give you the information you need to convert more prospects into clients, while avoiding given the impression to respondents that you just want to sell more.

Let us know what you think,

I agree with Harry, provided that the quantity is small enough to facilitate this.

And as he suggested, you might actually get a second bite at the apple. After all, you'll be hearing objections first hand, and the key to making sales is overcoming objections.

I'm not sure there's a standard list of questions to ask.

People don't buy things for a pretty finite number of reasons:

Didn't meet their needs
Too expensive
Can't make it work with other things they use
Not in current budget
Could not get buy-in from powers-that-be

...and so on.

Thing is, you might have a hard time getting someone to admit that something was too expensive or that they could not get buy-in...it could be perceived as making them look weak. (A lot of this has to do with what you're selling and to whom...consumer vs. business, et cetera.)

I think it's a very good idea to reconnect with these people, though.

I don't know how many people you need to contact (and the lifetime value of the prospect), but if it's under a couple of hundred people, I would call them. An online survey request is all to easy to ignore. What you really want is a dialog.

Before contacting any of them, create a script that could use either for a survey (should you wish) or a phone call. The script would be very similar to the one you would use when you initially contacting them: 1) confirming that they are a decision maker for this service/product, 2) finding out their current solution to the product/service, 3) confirming that they would be interested in a better solution, 4) determining a budget for it, etc.

When you contact them the first time, you needed to learn about their organization's needs first, then you could sell them your solution. If after testing, your solution was rejected, I would go over the answers that they initially provided to see where their answers and your solutions didn't "match up".

I know this answer won't make you my friend, but I think you should be more in touch with your client during the sales cycle. You should not contact them -- after the sale -- and ask "why". You should know how the sale process is going, and be on top of it countering objections as they occur. While they will give you answers that will range as the answers above the real reason is that you weren't on top of it.

Honestly-- my focus is sales and if anyone I coach or manage didn't know "why" they lost a sale-- there would be some drama.

To increase the chances of someone answering your (online or offline) survey honestly, you should add a paragraph in the front page stating that "It is in your best interest to answer truthfully. We don't mind how bad the feedback is, we just want your honest opinion."

You can mix in short and long questions but make it multiple choice so participants are more willing to answer the survey. If you want them to answer the questions in their own words (more accurate), there's a high likelihood they will leave it blank most of the times though because of frustration and timing constraint. If you do want them to answer it in their own words, you should make the question short and have only a few of these questions in the survey.

Basic questions can be done using "who, what, when, where, why, how". Advance questions can be "Did you think the price was fair"? "Did you like or hate the product" Why? "Was our customer service helpful"? You should start the questions easy first (to get the ball rolling) and at the middle to the end include the hard questions you wanted to ask.

-B

This post will not make you my best friend, however, I would like to give you some input regarding lost sales.

Most everybody in sales that you speak to will say that one of the main reasons you lost a sale was due to pricing, budget issues, buy-in, etc...

Sales are never lost due to pricing. Sales are lost due to lack of value seen in the product, and the price is too high because it is not "worth it" to them.

There are two reasons that people buy.

1. To Avoid a Loss, Or...
2. To Gain a Benefit, Or Both.

If you have not "clearly" illustrated this to them by asking the proper questions, and opening them up to talk, and explain their "needs" and shown them the value of your product in addressing those needs - Then they will not buy because of price, budget, buy-in, etc...

If you can clearly illustrate the value in a product in a way that addresses their needs, you will blow them away, and any of your competitors at the same time. That is what sales people lack. The top sales people have mastered it, but it is rare.

I hope this answer has helped you some.

As far as looking back and asking why you lost a sale, think outside the box, and instead of asking your client why they didn't buy like most sales people, ask yourself, why didn't you sell?

-Chris

Ok, my answer may not make ANYONE of you like me, but here goes.

One thing ALL of you failed to mention with respect to lost sales: RELATIONSHIPS.

If you focus on overcoming objections, you WILL make some sales, but you may NOT develop a relationship with your client...at least not every time. Relationships are key to develop BEFORE the sale, and much harder to develop after it, much less if you did not get it. There is no question that if you can uncover a need and offer a solution you may make a sale, but if all you are doing is trying to overcome objections, you are focused on WINNING, not developing a relationship. Let me throw this out there, and some of you who have the right mindset may have heard it before:

All Things Being Equal, People Will Do Business with those that they know, like and trust...that is the bottom line. Focus on that and your limits just went away...

Now, with respect to customer surveys...I have done thousands...better yet, I have gotten OTHERS to do thousands. You see, even if we screw up, it is hard for folks to tell us right to our face or even over the phone. Making a qualifiying statement won't even necessarily improve the quality of the info you receive THAT much...enter VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS. There are many qualified Virtual Assistants who will either work with your script or help you to develop one. They call and get the real scoop. They are representing your company of course, so this is not a cold call, the right script takes care of this right away.

BKraft, I would be happy to give you some info into those points via email if you like, and could probably get you up and running with a newly designed campaign for free just because you are a member of Marketingprofs.

Either way, good luck to all...

Mac Cassity

Boy, have you gotten some great advice and feedback here. This is an excellent example of how to use this forum effectively.

My contribution is this: Your lost-sales prospects may not level with you if you're the one calling. Maybe the reason has to do with YOU, or maybe they're afraid you will try to sell them something (again). Instead, get a professional market researcher to make the calls for you. They can even test the waters on how the respondents might react to a follow-up from you.

Sure, it will cost a little more, but at least you'll remove one of the biggest barriers to a bad response. You may get more out of the exercise if you can identify the problem and improve FUTURE sales calls, rather than going back to those who have already decided against you.

And you get the side benefit of professional help designing the questionnaire/discussion guide. I've done this sort of thing for clients before, and it's amazing how respondents will open up to an "objective third party" when they won't to a sales person.

Also, be sure to interview customers who have bought too, so you can identify differences between the two groups. Suppose the reason among non-buyers is that they didn't like your suit. But then you talk with buyers and they didn't like your suit either, but they liked the proposal so well that they overlooked the suit and bought. Wouldn't that be important to know?