Frances Pratt outlines a four-step approach to owning sales mistakes: be brutally honest with yourself, tell the person affected what happened, fix your systems so it doesn't repeat, and turn it into a story that shows you're human. Mistakes aren't failures if you learn and correct them.
Chapters
Well, good morning. Hi, it's Frances Pratt from Kiss to Sell, and also today representing the Smart Business Alliance. And that's my computer. The joys of technology, hey? And that's exactly what I want to talk to you about. Thank you, computer. I didn't even know that was going to happen. I want you to talk about— I want to talk to you about loving your mistakes because that's what I've been thinking about today. Lots of people talk about learning from their mistakes, but I'm not sure that many business people actually own them. So I want to step through what I do when I make a mistake. So the first thing that I think is really important is to be honest, and the first person to be honest is yourself. So if you can be honest with yourself and say, yep, I stuffed up there, but to really understand how that happened— and I'm sure it didn't happen in isolation, there were other players involved— is to go and be honest with them too. It's really great to get out and talk to people about what mistakes you've made and what you've learned, but the only way to do that is is to go and uncover what that mistake has meant for other people. So when you uncover a mistake and realize something has happened, go and talk to the other person, be it a client or a supplier, and really get them to help you unpack what happened. And then you've got a real meaty story that, that you can use. Okay, so we've recognized our mistake, we've started being honest with ourselves— very important. And honest with other people who've been involved, the next thing that is really great then is to look at your processes and your systems and what you do on an everyday basis and see what needs to change. Is there anything that you need to change so that you cannot make that mistake in the future? Is there something that you can learn and implement from that? Um, and then I think the other thing, um, or the next thing is then putting that in a story. Is there a story that you can tell yourself, your colleagues, your customers about what happened, what you learned, and what you did about it? People love that because you know what, it shows that you're human. It shows that you're real. It shows that you're honest. It shows that you make mistakes, and when you do, you don't just try and sweep it under the carpet. You do something about it, and that's the sort of company or person that people want to work with. So, um, I hope you've taken some good tips from today. I'd love to hear about what mistakes you've made, um, and what you've learned from that. And the last thing that I'm going to leave you with today is to say just because you've made a mistake in one area is no excuse for not getting out there and trying again. The best way to perfect what you're doing in business, and particularly with sales, is to get out there, make mistakes, but get out there again and try again. So I look forward to hearing about your mistakes, and I look forward to Learning what you've learned and understanding what that means for you. So, for the love of selling, get out there and love your clients and love yourself. Okay.
