Why we started ClosedLost.

Like poop, people don't like to talk about lost deals. A loss, like poop, is ugly. But just like pooping is healthy and natural, so is losing deals. And like examining your poop, examining your Closed Lost deals is healthy and important.

Welcome to our blog. Where we will talk about sales, about learning, and about failure. Hopefully not a lot about poop. We have always found that you learn more from failure than you do from success. Yet people spend a lot of time talking about success, and not a lot of time talking about failure. Here we will talk about failure and all the opportunities to learn.

Relishing in Failure

“Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day that says I will try again tomorrow.” - Mary Anne Radmacher

No one likes losing deals. And the ultimate goal with ClosedLost is that you will lose less deals. And after losing deal after deal, it is always important to try again tomorrow. But if you don't spend time analyzing why you lost the deals and iterating to get better you are destined to repeat the same mistakes again and again.

Learning from Failure

“I have not failed. I have found 10,000 ways not to make a light bulb.” - Thomas Edison

This quote is oft disputed, but the sentiment remains. You have not lost the deal, but found another way not to make a sale. Assuming that the same process will work the next time is illogical. You are trying to make a sale. And like any good tactician, you should continue to hone your craft to get better.

Lost Deals is Not A Sales Problem

Losing deals is a COMPANY problem. If you continue to think of losing sales as a sales problem, you will miss the opportunity to make sales and the company better. Lost deals could be a marketing issues (bad prospects), a qualification issue (bad discovery), a sales issue (bad relationship management), a product issue (bad PMF), or a company issue (bad messaging). Until you start examining your ClosedLost poop, you will not know. We are here to help.