Article for “Sales Guru” Magazine
Never Quit The Right Focus
One great statesman (The Charlie Brown comic strip character, Peanuts) made a statement that has become famous. He said “Never, Ever, Ever, Ever, Give Up!”
There is another common statement. It goes like this, “Quitters Never Win and Winners Never Quit!”
I disagree with the above two statements. I believe…Winners Quit All The Time. They Just Quit The Right Stuff At The Right Time.
Winners often quit certain things before they even start because they know they do not have the resources, experience, knowledge, or even the desire to complete specific activities, goals, tasks or opportunities so why waste time and energy starting.
We are often told that we need to persevere – to just put more effort in, work longer hours, and get more education …don’t give up, don’t quit.
If this were true, why is it that many Salespeople put massive amounts of effort into their job, work 12 hours a day, six days a week, have a degree in Business Administration and are still not close to being a top producer.
Often the differences are:
(1) the Top Producers clearly decide in the beginning which projects or clients are worth persuing (AAA, AA, A) based on certain criteria. (See the November 2007 Issue on “Where Your Attention Goes, Your Energy Flows”).
(2) they are persistent and don’t give up while the majority of the competitors persuing the same clients give up too early.
What we are saying in point #2 is, “Don’t quit if the reward at the end is going to be worth the effort”. In other words if it is going to be a worthwhile client. This article is focused on Point #2.
According to the Author Seth Godin in his book “The Dip”.
“If it is worth doing, there is probably a Dip!”
He also says everything in life worth doing is controlled by The Dip.
The Dip is the long slog between starting and mastery.
The Dip is the time it takes to move past the artificial screens, hurdles, objections and excuses a buyer from an AAA Category Company gives Salespeople.
The Dip is the long stretch between beginners luck as a Salesperson and being a Top Producer who achieves real sales results on a daily basis year after year.
The Dip separates the masters from the majority who give up on worthwhile goals and opportunities too early.
By changing, adapting, being innovative and staying focused and persistent in order to make it through The Dip on worthwhile goals and opportunities you end up being the best in your field and people like to deal with the best. You will also be in an elite class of your own because most people will have already quit.
In summary, first we must believe the potential reward at the end of activities persuing a client, prospect or referral source is worthwhile. We do this by targeting the right clients, prospects and referral sources.
Secondly, to make it through The Dip we must not give up. That requires consistent yet innovative and effective frequency of contact with the client where we add value.
Thirdly, you must make sure you are approaching the client with the right solutions.
To make it through The Dip we must utilise Frequency of Contact
The Importance Of Frequency
The most effective element in advertising is frequency. If you reach 10 000 of the right people ten times with the right message rather than 100 000 people once, your advertising rands will be much more productive.
The same principle applies in selling.
“It is better to reach 50 of the Right Prospects
and Right Clients 20 times with the Right Methods of Contacting
rather than 1000 Prospects or Clients ONCE!”
In selling you only have so much Time, Energy, Ability, Money and Reputation to invest.
For example, you may have 1 000 potential buyers in your market. Over 6 months if you call on approximately 8 different clients per day, at the end you would have covered the 1 000 and had no time to see any of them a second, third or fourth time.
A commonly used set of figures often used in sales training that seems to back up the frequency principle in selling, is the Sales Conversion Ratio and the Why Frequency Works Study by the National Dry Goods Association of America.
Sales Convention Ratio
(100 Competitors’ Clients Converted)
|
Calls |
Converted |
|
|
1st |
2 |
of the 100 left |
|
2nd |
3 |
of the 98 left |
|
3rd |
4 |
of the 95 left |
|
4th |
10 |
of the 91 left |
|
5th and onward |
81 |
of the 81 left |
Why Frequency Works
|
| The Natural Sales Cycle |
The 7 Phases of The Natural Sales Cycle are;
1. Warming Up The Call
2. Breaking The Ice
3. Uncovering Buying Motives
4. The Sales Proposal
5. Handling Objections
6. Closing The Sale
7. Add-Ons And Up-Sells
The following example illustrates why frequency of contact works in combination with the 7 Phases of The Natural Sales Cycle
The 1st contact may be Warming Up The Call by means of making a telephone call.
The 2nd contact may be Breaking the Ice by means of getting comfortable with each other
The 3rd contact may be Uncovering Buying Motives by means of gathering additional information
The 4th contact may be making the Sales Proposal or Presentation
The 5th contact could be Handling Objections and Questions
The 6th contact may be Closing the Sale
The 7th contact could get you the Add-Ons, and Up-Sells
As you know these seven phases could all happen in one or two meetings. This would depend on the need, ability and desire to buy.
In most pro-active sales situations you will definitely require more than just one contact to close the business. So, what am I saying? In most cases by applying innovative, helpful frequency of contact to well qualified clients you will be the one making it through The Dip and landing the best clients in your industry.
Don’t give up on the right prospects and clients!