One of the things that we ask new clients to do is create a dirty laundry list. What are all the ways they have a lost a deal in the past? What obstacles came up? What last minute surprises derailed the process? Who put a halt to the deal that was about to go to procurement?

Eventually the list grows to include things that created unhappy customers. What expectations were unclear? What things went wrong that were out of your control?

The next steps are to identify why it happened, and what needs to happen during the sales process to address it.

The reason isn't to know what to do when they come up, but for them to bring up first during their engagement with potential buyers. Yes, rather than "dealing with obstacles" I am telling clients to bring up the potential obstacles and pitfalls before the buyer does. Hindsight is always as clear as 20/20 vision, so why not help you buyer by giving them the benefit of your hindsight?

Oh, you thought you only have to help them as much as you needed to in order to get the deal? If helping them means disqualifying yourself, why would you do something so silly? Kinda like you only need to listen and ask enough to find a pain point right?

Yup, you and every other salesperson on planet Earth. Do you want to be like every other salesperson who gets stalled on deals and negotiated on price, or do you want to stand out to your buyers? Wouldn't you appreciate bringing up potential issues before they are issues when you are trying to get something done?

Here are a few examples of things we have heard clients put on their dirty laundry list. Use this simple worksheet to list yours, or help your fellow salesperson and share yours in the comments below.

• Problem: Unhappy customer = didn't have internal resources to execute.
  Why it happened: Internal staff was inexperienced with this type of tech and how to use. Too long a ramp up time to ROI. Expected more training and support.
  Questions to bring up: What are they hoping to accomplish with this implementation? Can they still meet their goal without it? Will they need to add staff to make that happen? Who do they have on staff? What is their experience level? How much support will they need? Are they more inclined to want on demand training or in person, or some combination?
• Problem: Deal lost = IT had a last minute issue with the data security.
  Why it happened: Chief Security Officer wasn't in demo meeting.
  Questions to bring up: What current security protocols are in place now? What future security mandates are coming? Shouldn't we check to make sure that's that case before we get too far ahead?
• Problem: Deal lost = lack of end user adoption.
  Why it happened: End users complained about changing tech- IT re-evaluating need.
  Question to bring up: What happens if your users don't want this change and refuse to participate?

Your turn- what has derailed a deal for you before? Are you keeping track and bringing it up, or does your analysis stop at tracking and not preventing? Do you share your dirty laundry list with team members and learn from each other? Do you practice asking these questions with each other?

Maybe you should?