Sales Intelligence and Win Back Campaigns

There is always an element of uncertainty in the purchase decision. Prospects are always concerned that they are being sold a bill of goods rather than a real solution. Of course, there are many processes in place to evaluate competing vendors and their products, but it is difficult to be 100% certain until the product, service, or solution is completely installed and integrated with all of the other processes in the company.

You know this is true. A certain percentage of your clients wonder why they chose you. Sometimes, it takes Herculean efforts to keep new clients happy until they can realize the potential of your offering.

If this happens to you, it must also happen to your competitors. And within that reality resides the opportunity.

New prospects can be very tender, having not yet built up a loyalty toward their new vendor. It is during this time that they may be most susceptible to a renewed sales effort from your company. At the least, you should procure as much feedback as possible to understand how you can compete more effectively next time around with the same company. After a lost sales attempt, how capable are you of knowing your chances of reacquiring that prospect in the near future?

Benefits
A large percentage of buyers surveyed who recently dismissed a key supplier reported choosing another supplier that offered basically the same product or service. This finding indicates that the lost account’s needs have not changed and can still be filled by the dismissed supplier.

Importantly, buyers also report their dismissed suppliers do not even attempt to win them back. Only 25% reported the dismissed supplier offered an apology and only 14% of buyers said dismissed suppliers adopted a keep-in-touch strategy with them.



Marketing
Proper post-decision systems will reveal whether a “prospect that got away” is content with its new vendor. While most prospects make the “right decision” for their company, a surprisingly large group are either disenchanted or outright disgusted with their new vendor. With this in mind, identifying these companies while the sales relationship has not yet cooled may provide greater opportunities once the existing contract ends.

Sales
Provide a sales professional with a list of companies that would likely defect from their current vendor and you’ll have a friend for life. After all, your sales organization already has a relationship with the prospect and probably made it to the final cut. If your company can assure the prospect that you were all set to deliver on the sales promises, the sales success rate increases.

Recommendations
Make a consistent effort to capitalize on spent sales efforts. A win-back program based on those sales opportunities that were almost yours may be a productive source of business in the near future.
Use a third-party vendor to consistently gather post-sales data and improve response rates.
Consider how unbiased feedback will provide realistic expectations for your company.