Yesterday you closed the greatest sale of your lifetime--today you're barely smiling through the tears! It has suddenly hit home that you just lost your best prospect, the one you've been promising to close for these many days, weeks or months. You turned them into a customer! To top it off, you don't have anyone else anywhere near ready to close. The money's great, but what are you going to do now?

If this scenario strikes a familiar chord deep down inside of you, don't despair. You feel that way because it's part of what makes you a great and successful sales person. You know that people buy you, not your product, and you are proud to say, "I sell America!" So why are you so down on the day after the sale? It's because your ego is telling you: "Top that one, if you can", and you aren't too sure you can!

Is there anything you can do to overcome this feeling? Yes! Here are a few ideas you might be able to use.

THE EGO OF SALES
Nobody just "buys" stuff. People just about always are sold. They are sold on the want and need for the product or service. You are one of the few people in this world that can perform this sales function; so if you have a fantastic ego! Nurture that ego, you deserve the praise. Your non-sales-ability friends can never understand your feelings of pride and accomplishment, and because they outnumber you (sales people of the world) about a thousand to one, they can easily damage your wonderful ego with insensitive remarks.

Fight this battle by joining a club (or starting one) for sales people only. You will find kindred spirits, and when you tell the story about the 'big one that didn't get away', you will have a sympathetic and understanding audience.

PIPELINING
As a salesperson, you know you should have several suspects in the sales pipeline besides your hottest prospect. You try, but as one customer gets closer to closing, the tendency is to devote more and more time to that prospect, neglecting the others.

As hard as it is, you must devote sufficient time to that number two prospect to elevate them to number one when you close that big sale. Don't worry too much about numbers three and four, a phone call per week with a personal visit once a month will keep them interested, and if they get hot, elevate them to the number two spot.

UNDERSTANDING YOUR ELATION-DEPRESSION CYCLE
Ordinary people do not understand this saw-tooth cycle that drives you. As you get closer to a sale, your mood swing is up, up, and up. It peaks at the sale, then turns around and plunges to maximum down--sometimes the same day! How many times have you gone to bed the night of a big sale and lain awake wondering where you're going to get a prospect for the next sale?

You know that recovery, even just back to level, will take time; and the push by management (even if you are management) will not help the recovery. Part of the success secret of overcoming the elation-depression cycle is pipelining as described above, but another part is maintaining prospect visibility.

PROSPECT VISIBILITY
Join your prospect's professional organization, or their fraternal organization (if that's where most of your suspects hang-out). If you serve several different groups of prospects, join the top three. Most will welcome you as a full or associate member. A few organizations want to maintain exclusivity and will keep you out, but most want your money, expertise, and skills.

Join a committee and be visible, don't just go to meetings. Serve pancakes at the community breakfast, solicit for their favorite cause, become a working member. When your suspect realizes you are willing to pitch in to make their organization a success, that feeling will transfer to you as the sales person who can solve their problems.

TAKE A VACATION
Take that vacation--a week is maximum, one or two days may be enough. Tell your prospects you are going to be away for a week, and that you will call them the day you get back. That action takes care of the guilt you might feel about leaving and will permit you to have a good time. Don't worry about the company you work for; quite frankly you will be so much more at ease and ready to sell when you return that they should force money on you to pay for your fun!

A FEW OTHER TIPS
Some sales people like to attend rah-rah sales seminars. You know you are not going to get much nuts & bolts help at one of these, but the hype and motivation are terrific mood builders. Right after a big sale is an excellent time to hit-up management for a sales seminar course, and that is also the best time for you to attend one. A good pep talk may be just the thing to start you on the upward course again. Good luck!