How to Stop Fear from Causing You to Lose a Deal

Published on August 17, 2017

When you lose a sale, whose fault is it?  Is it the customer who doesn’t know what they want or need, the competition who gave the customer an offer they could not refuse, or the customer’s unwillingness to fire a long-time vendor?  Or do you blame the lost sale on the most common explanation of all—“our price was too high”?

All of these explanations take matters out of your hands. My question to you is this: Was there anything you could have done differently to create a more positive outcome? Did your thinking prevent you from getting the deal?

Our thoughts often dictate the outcome because that is what we are focusing on. If our thoughts are fear based and centered around what we don’t want to happen, it is going to happen. Your worst fear will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The reason for this is that the mind cannot process the negative. Look at the examples that follow. If you are going into a call or a deal thinking these kinds of thoughts, odds are they will come true:

  • I hope she doesn’t have a price objection
  • I hope he doesn’t say no.
  • I hope she isn’t thinking about my competition.
  • I hope he doesn’t have a relationship he doesn’t want to give up.

As a Sales and Leadership expert, I know that you can reverse your fortunes and get the desired result by visualizing the end result you are after. Concentrate on the outcomes you want to see. If you want to have a great meeting in which the prospect says yes, visualize the person saying yes to you and shaking your hand at the end of the call. If you want the person to recommend you to a decision-maker further up the ladder, visualize them being very excited about what you have to say and setting up a meeting to go with you to speak with that next person.

What you think about is translated into actions.  If you fear a result, your whole body, including your brain, is focused on the negative outcome, and that will drive your actions to produce that very negative outcome. But visualizing the positive results will in turn lead to a whole different set of actions, conversations, mindset—and result.

My challenge to you this week is this: On every call, visualize the end result you want to happen, and then go and make it happen. I’d love to hear about your experiences and results. Send me an email!