You aren’t gonna win ‘em all… Maybe that shocks you. If you know anything about me you might say, that’s not like you to say something like that, which for the most part I would agree with. Normally I have the mindset that can and will get what I want, when I want and will begin moving in that direction. However, obstacles, problems (that’s right, I didn’t say challenges), and external variables may contribute to the fact that maybe something didn’t go your way when you thought it would. Our process of introducing something to an individual or group of individuals is subject to their own method of evaluation and validation and we have to understand that. It’s like eating the worlds largest taco, success is on your terms, not someone elses. Others may not ever care. Habitually making the same mistakes will be catastrophic to our personal success. That’s why it is imperative to learn from our failures and lost opportunities so we do not repeat it and break the cycle. You cannot continue to do the same thing over and over again and expect a new result. You are not defined by your success, you define your own success. 5 Keys in improving your success ratio: Research: Do your homework. Find out everything you can from competitors about the company or individual you are calling on. Make a call to someone within the company to get intel that may help you. Preparation: Come armed with questions and get the information you need to understand how to position yourself as a trusted advisor. Don’t just wing it or rely on your experience. Customers will see right through you and recognize you have not prepared. Practice: Rehearse what you are going to talk about, and how. The most costly thing you can do is to practice on potential customers. De-brief: Always do a self assessment whether you won or lost the deal. You will always learn more from the deals you lose than the ones you win. Look at what you did right and what you may have been able to do differently. Do things different: Always be looking at ways to improve and be open to consider new ways of looking at things. In the end, you will win more deal if you apply these principles. Unfortunately you are not going to win every deal you work on and if it were easy, everyone would be doing it. Refine yourself, your process and continue to improve incrementally each day and you will bring more success to yourself. Success is about setting goals and realizing achievement by your standards, not anyone elses. To your success and Ignite you passion.