Everyone makes mistakes, it is a part of our human nature. Some mistakes seem bigger and more detrimental than others but almost every mistake is recoverable. To put it in a sports perspective, a hockey player can turn the puck over to the other team in game 7 of the playoffs so they can go shoot on goal (big mistake). The player can get mad at himself for allowing the other team to have a scoring chance or he can work hard and get back defensively to stop the shot. If the player gets back in time he will be praised for being able to recover from a potential costly mistake.
In sales, we may make a mistake or two, but that does not mean the sale is gone. I made a big mistake by making an assumption during our class project. However I did my best to recover by then asking for more information so that I didn’t have to assume anything else. I was able to gather more information from the prospect and reestablish some confidence in the relationship that may have been lost from my mistake. A good salesperson rarely commits any errors but a great salesperson is able to recover from the rare mistake and still create a successful business relationship.
BoweryJE22
I think the idea of recovery ties closely to the idea that we aren’t defined by any failures, if we have this perspective then we can have the confidence to right a wrong and recover.
Recovering from a mistake in sales is scary, but so worth it. Messing up in front of people in what is essentially public speaking seems like it can’t be fixed, but I bet a lot of people have been surprised that their good recoveries landed them even more than they were originally hoping for.