The Sales Archaeologist

In 1977 Tenerife airport  was home to the worst air disaster ever recorded. I was reading about the incident, which killed almost 600 passengers, and the details related to this horrible event prompted me to take a closer look at some of the worst commercial airline disasters in history. Not sure if that was the best idea since I have been on planes every week lately...

That said some interesting thoughts occurred to me as a result of my “studies”. Out of all these horrible accidents an unusually high number would appear to be the result of pilot error or the result of a miscommunication with the control tower. Of course there were also accidents that were strictly the result of mechanical failure, overdue maintenance, severe weather or some other variable that was beyond the control of the pilot and the air traffic controllers.

When you read the reports on these accidents you find that the answers as to what went wrong often can be found in the famous cockpit voice recorder or black box and more data is obtained from analyzing the flight data recorder – both of these tools provide a way for experts to analyze the accident and determine exactly what caused it, what led up to it and who or what was to blame.

One of the challenges that a sales manager and sales people often face has to do with effectively de-briefing and diagnosing what went wrong on a sales call. Sometimes there is nothing that can be done – but as in airline disasters we can only determine that after we review what happened. What was said? When was it  said? What sequence was followed? After an exhaustive study we should be able to exonerate the “pilot” and document the real cause of the failure.

The good news - if there is any after an airline crash - is this. Flying procedures are improved and the planes that we fly on are safer. Problems have been fixed, designs have been changed and the way pilots communicate with air controllers is consistent and shaped by "best practices" and "international language".

When airline investigators are trying to answer these questions they can hear actual recordings and look at actual flight data, when reviewing sales call you may not have a transcript. Instead you might be left with a version of the events and that can be tricky. You need to ask great questions and focus on the outcomes of the meeting. You need to base any de-brief on what was actually said by the prospect and not on a version of events that might simply be the result of having “happy ears”.

Properly executed reviews and investigations of your sales calls will not only help you understand what went wrong, it should help you fix the sales problems that led to the disaster, the crash or the damage.

I also believe that there is no time like the present to de-brief regarding a sales call. I used to practice what I called the "curbside critique". Right after a call, standing outside the building (hence the curbside part of the expression) the rep and I would have a conversation. This conversation need not last for an hour or even 30 minutes, like many things less is more. Start asking the following 3 questions after every sales appointment:

1. What did we do right?
2. What did we do wrong?
3. What will I do differently on my next sales call?

Regular and consistent answers to these 3 simple questions will drastically improve sales effectiveness and should lesson the chances of a sales disaster.