J.J.McLure

Owner at *redacted*

Valued Contributor

Biggest sales flop

Just needing some entertainment today so, what is everyone's biggest sales flop and what did you learn from it?

I'll go first;

I was selling a high end piece of construction equipment. It had a unique design that made it much better than the competition (even the other high end ones) and it was made in North America with high quality parts. I was speaking with one guy on the phone and he kept complaining about the price and saying that he could buy 4 Chinese machines for the same price (true) after weeks of trying to sell him on the benefits of this machine and why it's worth 4x I had enough and told him "when you're ready to play with the big boys give me a call and I'll set you up with some professional equipment" he hung up without a word and needless to say I did not make the sale.

After that I made a much bigger effort to qualify a prospect and their budget before spending too much time with them, but also to be nice about it so when they do want to step up it's not a humiliating call for them.

😎 Sales Skills

16

23 comments

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poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

13

☕️

Had a $150k white paper deal ready to be signed. Took the CEO and CMO out to dinner and brought my boss. He got shitfaced (first time at altitude) and embarrassed the CMO. Lost the deal. They did not renew the contract the following year. Missed my number that quarter which kept me from p club. Boss still got to go.

alonzoharris

Politicker

5

Partner Manager

this hurts so much to read

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

5

☕️

And HR didn’t think his behavior warranted action 🙃

J.J.McLure

Politicker

3

Owner at *redacted*

Ouch! That’s a good one

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

2

Rolling 20's all day

holy fuck I'd lose my mind if my boss did this to me

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

2

☕️

I left 4 months later.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

3

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Did this come up in your exit interview?

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

3

☕️

I spilt that tea faster than the Puritans in the Boston Harbor. He was given a new office to open later that year.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

2

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Was that a good thing, or was he sent to open a new office in Siberia?

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

2

☕️

A very good thing. He now is unemployed though and has been for a few years. Or he stopped updating LinkedIn.

Space_Ghost20

Valued Contributor

13

Account Executive

Had a deal last year that was "signed, sealed, delivered", close to $500k derailed due to the war in Ukraine. The company was 95%+ backed by Russian VC and sanctions cut off all of their funds. Not only was the deal off, but within 3 weeks the entire business was gone.

Felt bad to lose the deal, but I felt bad for the people in the warzone, and the people at the business who now lost their jobs and company they built too.

Lesson I learned? Sometimes you could run the perfect disco/demo, have the perfect fit, buy-ins from all the DMs and everyone who matters, but sometimes shit just happens.

Justatitle

Big Shot

0

Account Executive

Ouch.

Pachacuti

Politicker

7

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

I have had 2 multi-millions dollar deals get pushed to '24 (at least) in the past 2 months. Basically my '23 quota/pipeline.
Why? I think part of it is alignment. I have been aligned with the people who do the work and not those who make the financial decisions. Its a tough lesson to learn, especially when I know better.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

1

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Those are the bitterest lessons, that's for sure.

Justatitle

Big Shot

4

Account Executive

Had a 200k deal 2.5 years ago that we spent a little too much time with when there were just a few major product gaps that they deemed critical that we usually didn't see as an issue. Found out the hard way mid way through a 2nd demo with Vp level DMs... lesson, never get excited about a deal.

TennisandSales

Politicker

3

Head Of Sales

Idk if this is the biggest one, but the time i was doing investments i was working on moving $250k of money for this guy which was a big deal for me.

I fucked up the paper work so many times. I ended up having to come
Back to the guy like 3 times to sign another paper or initial changes i needed to make. Finally he just canceled everything because i couldn’t get my shit together. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

TINSTAAFL

Arsonist

1

AE

One huge F for u my brother

CuriousFox

WR Officer

2

🦊

Yawl are just built different in construction. And roofing.

Maximas

Tycoon

1

Senior Sales Executive

To me when I started my sales career, I was asking the customer to update his CC once done with my pitch and explaining the product without letting him have the sufficient time to ask any pending questions or concerns he may still have in his mind about the product or the contract before signing up, the thinghat usually made him saying I would call back later or let me think about it first!
All what I had to learn was to be more patient:)

GDO

Politicker

1

BDM

Spent 6 months working a 100k deal and got fired right before they "would be able to sign". No idea if they bought in the end

detectivegibbles

Politicker

1

Sales Director

I wouldn't even call that a flop!

Props to you not spending another second on it.

Me...I lost a 4 million dollar service opportunity. The shitty part is I still don't have closure as to why but my POC didn't seem to have any intel outside of gathering quotes.

I think I should have been scrappier in my follow-up and made the 4 hour drive to knock on the door of the decision makers.

Live and learn!

kittychachas

Valued Contributor

1

VP/Director of Sales

$300K net new business ARR. Our champion tee’d us up in late September and presented to his three counterparts and their VP of marketing. They were all bought in and were just waiting on the green light to start the contracting process.

October rolls around and things drag out a bit longer than anticipated. Around November we found out that the VP was sacked and a replacement CMO was brought in. She brought in her own people and the deal was dead in the water. The champion was shuffled out and the CMO never once engaged with us.

A years worth of work and what would have been the largest new business sale in company history was gone. Would have made 10% on that deal.

BTQ

Politicker

0

Account Manager

That hurt to read

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