The One That Got Away

The Lead - The One That Got Away

Ever lose a deal that really stung? Odds are that question just made your mind jump to a particular prospect or situation. The opportunities we don’t win tend to leave us with lessons that stick with us. Not to be cliche, but it’s true that we learn more from the losses than the wins. It’s certainly been true in my experience.

I want to share one of those stories that stick with me, as well as what I learned. My first sales job was selling insurance. I worked in a small family office here in Raleigh, straight commission role. I started out selling home and auto insurance, before breaking into the world of business insurance.

We got a lead for a local produce company, who was open to talking about their business insurance. Wasn’t a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, but for me at the time it was a big one. In insurance world, having a bunch of employees and box trucks meant good things. This was a good opportunity.

I went out to meet with the owner at his office. He was pretty direct, rough around the edges. I asked some questions about his current situation, and he had no problem telling me he’d been frustrated with his insurance agent. He felt like he was paying too much, and hadn’t heard from his agent in a few years. The pain wasn’t hard to uncover, and it seemed like a great opportunity.

One of the unique aspects of selling insurance, is that I now had to go and find an insurance carrier who was willing to take on this company’s risk profile. Thankfully, delivering produce to local restaurants isn’t exactly high risk. But, when you have a bunch of vehicles on the road there is risk involved which meant more premiums.

This guy was happy to give me all the information I asked for. I went back to my underwriters to see what we could do. Long story short, this was a good account. I even had a detailed breakdown on what he was currently paying. I assembled a competitive proposal, that increased his coverage while also reducing his cost. I felt really good.

I went back out to meet with him, eager to present what I felt like was a strong proposal. He’d already told me he was unhappy with his current situation, so it seemed like a no-brainer to me. We met and went over the details. At the end, he said he’d review the information and get back to me. 25 year old Ben was sure this was a slam dunk. So sure, I didn’t bother to try and establish next steps really. I figured I’d hear back pretty quickly that he was ready to move forward.

A week or so later, his renewal date was fast approaching. I had followed up by email and phone but wasn’t hearing anything back. Since there was a time element here, I thought for sure it would be any day. I waited and waited, becoming less confident in myself as time passed.

Finally, I got him on the phone and it wasn’t a good conversation. I was stunned to hear this guy proceed to tell me that he decided to stay with his current agent. He had taken my proposal and provided it to his agent. What happened you ask?

Well the current agent was able to get the incumbent insurance carrier to reduce their price to keep the account. In the end, he used my quote as leverage to get a better deal where he was. The frustration with the current agent that was present in our first conversation, completely gone from his memory.

To be honest, I was completely taken aback. At this point, I was completely naive to the situation I had put myself in. All the hard work I’d put in to get this guy a better deal was out the window. I’d been had.

Now hopefully you have a good idea of what I learned in this situation, but just in case I’ll break it down.

1. Sell on price, lose on price - The primary issue this guy had was he felt he was paying too much. I did very little to differentiate myself in terms of quality of service. I thought coming in with the lowest number was really all that mattered. Well as the story illustrates, he quickly and easily got himself a better price. Making yourself a commodity doesn’t serve you well in the long run.
2. People tend to choose the path of least resistance - Said another way, the cost of change is expensive. Sure this guy had issues with his current agent, but he was a known entity. In the end he got the best of both worlds - lower price and didn’t have to make any changes to his current situation. Even when what you’re selling is better, you still have to overcome people’s natual tendency to want to stay put and avoid uncertainty.
3. ALWAYS establish decision criteria and next steps - It doesn’t really matter what you’re selling. We’ve all gotten the “I need some time to think” phrase thrown at us. Time to consider a decision is not an unreasonable request. But what I wish I’d done here, was dig deeper into what would be considered in the decision making process. What was important to him? What factors would he consider before making the call? I left the ball completely in his court and never got the chance to swing the deal back in my direction. By the time we talked again, it was too late.
4. Think one step ahead - This one is a little niche to insurance, but really applies to any situation where you’re up against a competitor who already has a leg up from a relationship standpoint. In retrospect, had I seen this coming I would’ve warned him what was going to happen. I could’ve foreshadowed for him that when he goes back to his current agent, that agent would almost certainly act in desperation to keep the deal. He’d probably find a way to drop the price, even though he’d made no such attempts in years past. His whole perspective would’ve been completely different when things played out exactly as I’d predicted. Enough to win the deal? Maybe not, but I think it would’ve helped me.

It never feels good to lose a deal you’ve worked hard on, especially one you think is a slam dunk. But as time passes, you start to see the areas where you need to get better. For better or worse, it sticks with you. The story I just shared happened 10 years ago, and I still remember it vividly.

It would be easy to reflect on our losses and think things like “They don’t get it”, or “They made a bad decision”. While those things might be true, in most cases we could’ve done something differently that would’ve helped our case. After all, we are imperfect people working with other imperfect people. Don’t dwell on the losses, but be humble enough to examine your actions in earnest and move forward.