Top 10 Ways to Lose Business

Your thinking will probably determine how you behave.  The Top 10 Ways to Lose Business are all mindsets, ways of thinking that can be disastrous. They need to be pulled out like the weeds in a garden.

Keep these ideas about your prospective clients in your mind and you will most certainly lose business. Follow the advice and you may see your business skyrocket. Develop a mindset for success.

1.    Too small for my services:

Small may just become bigger. And small may know bigger or be eventually bought out by bigger. Never underestimate the size of what you are looking at. Don’t judge by the building. Deal with the person. They may be the one who can bring you a lot of business even if they never personally initial a deal for their own company. The influence of your new friend may serve you well for many years to come.

2.    Too big to ever retain me:

Without asking you’ll never know what might have been. Remember, someone else will ask. Behind the corporate structure are people who need to get a job done. Be the professional you are and bite off a big chunk. Offer what they need. Tailor it by listening carefully. Big chunk – big rewards.

3.    Just another sale:

Another sale? That was just the greatest transaction ever done. Give them value beyond what they every imagined from you and cash in on the future business. Hum drum stops with “duty done”. Excellence builds value for the future. You won’t be just another professional come and gone, but a long-term professional alliance that can make their company great.

4.    An interruption to my day:

What a day for golf. Sunny. Too much to do to be bothered following up that lead? When a prospect turns into an interruption day after day, you’re in a rut. Either you’re afraid to make contact or your work habits need to be checked out. Shake out of your lethargy. Get a coach to work with you and get you on track again. Enjoy leisure from a position of success not avoidance.

5.    Too much work:

“I’ll just work my tail off for this, and get didly squat for it.” Work won’t kill you, but work smart. Zero in on what’s important. Many spend too much time on details with little real importance. 80% of the real productive work will probably be fleshed out in 20% of the time. Is it managing your time that’s challenging or managing yourself? There is a big difference between creating extra work and creating more time to be productive.

6.    My only hope:
Desperation is like a plague. It sucks the emotional energy right out of you. Your presentations will be like therapy 101 to the client. Learn from every presentation that didn’t fly and make the next one that much better. Operate from a place of strength and confidence in your ability. Hopefully, this isn’t the only deal you’re working on and it won’t be the last.

7.    Too professional to want to listen to me:

You’re a professional. You have training, expertise and a history of experience that they, no matter how professional, do not have. Offer your unique expertise to the client. Do you know their field? Perhaps not. Do you have to? No. You have to know your field. And if they need your services then go for it. Act what you are, a professional.

8.    A waste of my time:

They just won’t be interested. How do you know? What facts lead you to believe that? Let the customer be the judge of how they’ll receive your efforts. You be you, and do your excellent best. This attitude of defeat before battle is a wasting one. Every presentation you make sharpens your knowledge, skills and hopefully your attitudes towards your success.

9.    An easy sell.

Never underestimate the smarts of your prospect. Get your facts complete and present them well. If there is any hint of condescension you could be in big trouble. Treat every prospect as the only prospect that may ever come your way. Respect their dignity and you could be compensated well for it.

10.    The competition probably has it:

Who says? Like everything before this, it’s all in your mind. Until you take the action that can lead to the result, you just don’t know. Unlock this key insight in yourself. You are a professional. Professionals act until there is “proof” that the competition has it. Keep giving the client value with your name attached.

Make a decision right now to deal with self-defeating thinking.