If you are one of the 112 million people who watched Super Bowl 50 this past Sunday, you more than likely know the Carolina Panthers lost to the Denver Broncos 24 to 10. And you may have heard that Carolina’s quarterback, Cam Newton, was not particularly gracious in defeat.
For the record, although I live in beautiful North Carolina, I am not a Panthers fan. Being born and raised in New York, my loyalties remain in the Northeast. I do admit, being of “upper-middle aged”, I was pulling for the older quarterback in Peyton Manning.
Nevertheless, we have all been in Cam Newton’s shoes/cleats at one time or another in our commercial real estate careers, albeit not in front of 112 million viewers. We have all lost; lost a big pitch, or worse a major exclusive because the competition beat us, or because we underperformed.
[Tweet “A few options for when you get beaten by your competition…”]
When, not if, you find yourself being beaten by your competition, you have a few options:
- Hang your head in disgust and vow to be better prepared for your next opportunity. Unfortunately, this approach may not get you another opportunity with the specific prospect who did not select you to represent them.
- Ask your prospect why you were not selected and then evaluate and possibly implement their feedback. “We are sorry that you decided not to work with us, and appreciate your consideration. We are always striving to grow, so we would value your feedback as to how we could earn your business in the future.”
- Continue to stay in front of your prospect through personal, physical and digital efforts. Be in position to prove to them that you were the better choice when your competition drops the ball/fumbles. Sometimes it’s better to be #2 in CRE pitches, as when your competition fails, the prospects tends to have more realistic expectations.
[Tweet “Continue to stay in front of your prospect even if you were not chosen to represent them.”]
As it relates to Cam Newton, he was the MVP of the NFL in 2016. He is a tremendous player who, along with his team, simply got beat. It happens, we can all attest to that. Likely, Mr. Newton will earn the MVP award again and win a Super Bowl in the future. Odds are you will also be much better giving a commercial real estate pitch after you lose, even if you are an MVP in your own right.
2 Responses
Good point, Rod.
I would emphasize on #2… critical to get feedback and understand what you could improve for next time. I’m surprised by how many people accept defeat without digging in to understand WHY they lost the deal and what they can learn from it.