Thanks for all of the readers that visit the site and offer comments here and on our Linked in group page. I appreciate every one's participation and look forward to more interaction. Remember, this blog and our Linked in group were created to help us all sell more products and solutions profitably and repeatedly!
Recently my three year old son wanted a screwdriver. He is very skilled for his age with tools (my toolbox has a pen and a check book in it so it definitely came from Mom) so after the tenth request I caved in and gave it to him. It occurred to me that he simply wore me down. Not the first time and it won't be the last. John, like many young children is relentless when he wants something. I started to examine my sales efforts and asked myself, how relentless am I when it comes to an order. For John, his sister and Mom's sake the answer better be pretty damn bad since I am the breadwinner and live solely on commissions!
Many say that you might hear no twenty times before you hear yes. We can all relate to this after a day of cold calls with only a few new prospects and a feeling like you were kicked in the teeth repeatedly. These are the tough hard days of sales that the people who say how easy our job is don't get to witness. They see us golf, entertain, leave the office to go on appointments and say "I could do that, that guy is useless" yet they don't take the risk we do. Those ugly days of cold calling, networking, prospecting. preparing. closing are what earns us the right to follow an non-traditional schedule, work form home, attend conferences, and visit with customers rather than stay in a cube each day every day. To have the sales life, however, you have to sell, and in today's economy, there is no where to hide!
I am looking at every opportunity I get now and thinking about the word relentlessness. Define a goal with each opportunity, focus on the delivering the very best outcome for the client, make sure the client knows that you have no other interest but to overwhelm them and do it again! Don't create any room for the customer to even look for a competitor. When the competition comes along, how much better will you be. Stick to the basics, do what you say you will and then some, follow up, follow up, and follow up again but do it creatively....have something for your customer every time you call or risk being relentless and irrelevant, a bad combo!
