Hating to lose

In our new economy, a lot of us have been losing lately. However, we can't become immune to the pain losing should bring us.

Yes, the economy is brutal. Many of us have lost large amounts of business because of it. It is a different world than it was just six months ago. But if you think you can do absolutely nothing about it, you may have already given up.

I love the Lon Kruger quote in a recent article by the LVSun.com's Rob Miech: "Wanting to win is a good quality. Hating to lose is, maybe, a better one. Everyone wants to win. Sometimes, you don’t have enough people who hate to lose."

I have never been around anyone who has higher standards - and higher expectations of those around him (including off the basketball court) - than Coach. He absolutely hates to lose, although he remains a true and sincere gentleman when he suffers a defeat.

To me, there is a great lesson we can take out of this quote.

The most important characteristic of the "hating to lose" quality is that the person who lost takes responsibility for the loss. He takes ownership in the reality that he could have done something better to prevent the defeat. This realization drives him to improve in the future, to avoid further losses.

Everyone loves to win. It's easy to take ownership of that. However, not everyone is secure enough to take ownership of losses or failures (both big and small). Thus, it's safer for many people to do things such as place the blame elsewhere and/or claim the loss was unavoidable.

Have you done that anytime over the past six months in your business? "Well, we lost that client because of the economy." "Well, people aren't spending right now, thus, we didn't close that deal." Sound familiar?

Those sound like the old break-up line, "It's not you, it's me." Uh, no it's not. It does have at least a little something to do with you.

I am not crazy, most of us are losing business because of the economy. But, if we are providing a value to our clients, it's much more difficult for them to leave us. Begin to take ownership of losing these economic causalities and try to do something about it besides simply saying, "Well, there was nothing we could do."

For example, be proactive in addressing clients' needs. Offer to reduce rates or contracts before clients/customers come to you wanting to completely stop spending with you. Or, better yet, offer them more services or bonus product for the current financial arrangement. (This protects your revenues.) When they think of you, have them thinking they have already improved their relationship with you during these tough economic times. It's about value.

On the new business development front, many of us did not have to be great closers during the booming economic periods. The business was there if we generated the leads. Today, we need to close. If you are getting in front of people during this period, that is a legitimate opportunity. Take ownership in closing them. If you don't close them, it's not simply the economy - you had something to do with it. Fix it. Become a better salesperson, a better sales organization. Give potential clients a reason to spend money - offer them value and show them their potential return on investment.

Too many professionals right now don't want to take ownership of the business we are losing - or not gaining. In fact, too many professionals are starting to become immune to the pain of losing.

Don't let you - or your teammates - fall into the trap of simply accepting failure. That is the easy way out (of business). Take ownership in each loss and hate every single one of them. You may still face losses - just not as many.