Three crucial factors in sales success

From How to Conduct a Premortem to Win More Sales by Jill Konrath:

When I think about all the business I’ve lost over the years, 3 main themes come to mind:

1) I overlooked some critical piece of information.
2) I wasn’t working with the right decision makers.
3) My prospect decided it was easier to stay with the status quo.

Knowing that those are my main themes gives me the ability to think about them seriously before I meet with my prospects. If I feel that I’m missing some vital info, I’ll stop and ask about it before I rush blindly forward.

Notes:
(1) This advice applies to bus dev as well as sales.
(2) Jill’s antidote to “rushing blindly forward” is to “stop and ask about it”. Cf. To sell, ask and listen.
(3) The importance of asking questions and listening comes up so frequently that I’ve now created a separate category for it in my list of posts by topic.