Ways to Save Your Sale when Nothing Goes Right

One of the major disadvantages I face as an inside salesperson for a small telecom company is there are a lot of pieces that are simply out of my control. There is a process that can be as simple as porting a number from another company or as difficult as installing a brand new dedicated circuit and, because there are so many people involved, a lot can go wrong between the time I get the contract signed and the customer receiving their first bill from us (which is when I finally get paid).

As a result of this, there have been many times when I have had issues arise that, even though they weren't always our fault, did leave our customer unsatisfied with our service and second guessing their decision. At first, the customer almost always ended up changing their mind, costing me my commission check. But, with practice, I learned it is possible to save the sale with a little extra work.

The first thing I did was make every effort to return my customer's calls. Since I work on commission, I constantly have to be pursuing new opportunities. And, as a result of that, it was difficult to deal with customers I had already signed up. But, I also found ignoring my customer didn't work too well either since, if they left before that first bill, I didn't get paid for them anyway.

Second, I found it was best to serve as my customer's liaison. The company I work for has excellent customer service and, to tell you the truth, I feel perfectly comfortable handing off directly to them. However, I also learned many customers don't like. As a result, whenever something happens early on in our business relationship, I work with the customer service directly and, at very least, get them started until I can introduce them to a rep that can be with them the rest of the way.

The most important thing I learned is to know my company's limitations and know when to admit defeat. No company (especially in the industry I'm in) is perfect. And, I think most customers understand that and are even willing to forgive mistakes as long as they don't cause too much of an inconvenience. This is important to remember because I have had a few times when the problem was simply too big to solve in a respectable amount of time.

In those cases, I found the best solution is to let the customer out of their contract so they can move on with another company. Yes, this does mean I sacrificed my sale. But, by doing that, and explaining exactly what went wrong, I do still manage to salvage the business relationship and, as a result, have still managed to sell other services to the same customer.

Sales are hard to come by and, if you work on commission, you don't want to let the money you've already earned slip away because of something out of your control. By taking the extra steps like I do, it does increase your chances of saving your sale and, ultimately, earning more commission overall.