Business is down and you are feeling like a failure. You are not getting the sleep you need and you are working twice as hard and producing a fraction of the previous results. Are you a failure?
We all know the economy is bad for most companies - has had little impact on most attorneys and government continues to grow. How much is due to the overall economy and how much of your business decrease is due to your poor performance?
The answer lies in doing the follow up. I talked with a manufacturer and he was very glum due to the lack of sales. Once we reviewed his numbers, the proposals he sent out, and the lack of response we realized that the prospects were not buying - period. He did not lose to his competitors but the prospect, after asking for bids, did not follow through.
The lesson in this discovery is two fold: examine if your competition is gaining on you or not before beating yourself up, and why are we doing extensive bids when the prospect is not buying?
You need to put in place smart proposal writing. Extensive work on a proposal that gains you nothing is a serious cost - time spent as well as emotional commitment. We need to do a better job right up front in determining if the prospect is serious, have checkpoints along the way before we commit too much time, and try to get some level of commitment or payment before proposals become a significant cost.
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