3 rich sources of overlooked leads

If a prospect was good enough for you to have competed for their business in the past, then they're good enough to pursue now.

If you wanted the account badly enough to compete for it in the first place, losing that opportunity is not a good enough reason to give up your pursuit.

Here are three ways to mine "lost" sales opportunities.

1. Qualified:

You know that the prospect is qualified.

You want qualified leads? If you competed for and lost an opportunity in the past, you know that prospect is qualified so have at it.

You know your past prospect is spending money in your space, and you know that you are someone who can help them generate better results. None of this changes just because you lost on your first attempt to win their business.

This is especially true if the prospect is a dream client, or the type of prospect for whom you can create breathtaking, jaw-dropping, Earth-shattering value, and who is willing to pay for that value.

The best sales people play the long game.

2. Knowledge:

You know how you lost.

If you lost a contest, and if you are introspective enough to know how you lost that contest, you will do better your second time around.

It is very difficult for a great football team to beat another great football team that they beat earlier in the season, the second time they play. Having had the experience of playing once, you've gained the knowledge of what adjustments you need to make to win in a rematch. You're smarter for having gone through the exercise.

You want to be waiting in the wings having never gone away when your prospective client experiences their first hint of dissatisfaction. That won't happen if you give up and leave.

3. Contacts:

You have contacts within the prospect's company.

It is easier to pursue a lost prospect the second time around. If you made it deep enough to have met the decision-makers and stakeholders involved in the process of deciding who their partner would be, you have contacts. You have names, phone numbers, and email addresses of people you can nurture over time.

To recap: Qualified. You have knowledge that can help you win. You have contacts.

Lost opportunities are rich sources of leads, provided you nurture them and play the long game.

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