Learn to Sell: Lessons From Success & Failure

In my free startup sales course I talk about one of the most important lessons I ever learned in sales - and then I invite the participants to share one of their most important sales lessons with me. Just recently a sales manager replied by sharing a story with me, which I now want to share with you.

When he was a really young sales person, he got off to a lucky start. He had a few early successes, and the CEO of the company trusted him with one of the biggest, most important deals in the companies pipeline.

Our then still young and unexperienced sales rep screwed it up. The prospect didn't buy.

He was devastated and expected the CEO to strike down upon him with great vengeance and furious anger for losing this deal.

But when he told the CEO, all the CEO did was look at him and said: "All right. What did we learn?"

This question made a major impact on the young sales rep, who is now managing a team of sales reps.

Every week, ask yourself: What can I learn from the lost opportunities and failures? What can I learn from the successes?