Only 10% of salespeople

make more than 3 contacts

with a prospective Customer.

80% of sales are made

on the 5th to 12th contact.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the message behind these stats from the National Sales Executive Association, as brought to the surface on LinkedIn by

Douglas Green, National Field Market Manager, Healthcare at LanguageLine Solutions, Austin, TX.

Take the bitter pill! If you own or manage any part of a small or medium-size business, or if you are part of an individual or group professional practice, like it or not, you ARE a salesperson! If you can’t accept that and move forward, your business or practice won’t move forward. It is that simple.

So let’s explore this for a minute:

As a salesperson, what keeps you from making more than three contacts with a Customer or prospective Customer? What makes you stop short? Hint: It’s not likely to be the prospect or the circumstances. It’s your CHOICE — active or past– that’s holding you back!

If you’re so easily discouraged in representing your ideas/products/ services more than three attempts, imagine your credibility–never mind the credibility of your ideas/products/services–plummeting in the eyes of someone or group or entity after you’ve made only three attempts.

But whom, you may ask, wants to visit with someone five to twelve (12!!!) times to make a sale? A top performer, that’s who! The top performer you are capable of being, if you CHOOSE to be!

Frustration doesn’t fall from the sky and land on your shoulders. It’s something you intentionally or inadvertently CHOOSE.

Here’s a cage-rattler for you, from the good-fortune experiences I’ve had working with and learning from some of the world’s greatest salespeople: IT IS at least AS easy to choose to make the challenge of 5-12 contacts easy as it is to choose to make the challenge be hard.

And you must be lost in the Stone Age if you interpret “contact” or “visit” as a physical movement of your being back and forth to a prospect’s space. It’s true that physical back-and-forth trips may actually be called for in the case of high-ticket projects, but most of the time, contacts and visits take the form of phone calls, emails, text messages (when requested or agreed to ahead of time), or –Heaven Forbid!– a handwritten note or two (Huh? Handwritten?). Yes really! It’s all about Communication.

It should go without saying, but I’ll pop the comment in anyway: It’s not probable that 5-12 prospective Customer contacts will succeed if they constitute a bombardment or avalanche anymore than if they are as far apart in time as most dentist visits, so common sense must be paired with choosing persistence.

The bottom line: If you want to rise above the rubble, make a conscious choice to rise and a conscious choice to not be sidetracked.

Play the 10%-80% odds! Remember that Consistency Sells! And guess what else? Repetition sells, repetition sells, repetition sells. Repetition . . .

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 Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US        or comment below

A Practice Axiom of Entrepreneurship…

“HOW” Something Happens

  is far more important than

  Who, What, When, Where, or Why

The histrionics of analytics is paralyzing corporate growth. With steadily increasing regularity, analysis paralysis has been squashing the very heartbeat of big business since the onset of the computer age.

The only differences I see between analytics now and the 1990s are speed and depth. But getting quick, more complete answers to the who, what, when, where, and why doesn’t turn problems into opportunities, and in fact radically impedes the very essence of progress and innovation.

Entrepreneurs recognize instinctively that the time spent trying to “get to the bottom of things” literally stops forward motion with a thud! And, to an entrepreneur, nothing is more important than taking her or his idea onward and upward. Nothing. Certainly not slow-motion replays in perpetuity. It’s all about TRUST. Entrepreneurs trust themselves and they trust their ideas.

Getting on with it is the gnawing desire

behind every entrepreneurial venture.

Try it. Adjust it. Try it. Adjust it. Try it.

Adjust it. Try it again. Adjust it again…

Who cares about who, what, when, where, or why except maybe a detective or investigative journalist? The answer (my best guess!) is only those whose careers are politically driven and who seek to justify their existences above all other pursuits. That nails it to (I believe) the vast majority of government managers and corporate executives, and all politicians. The clues: Big-grip handshakes, fake smiles, and eyes always fixed on the next rung up.

Successful entrepreneurs have a burning, passionate desire to see their ideas succeed. They live to achieve their ideas, not to make money, not to become famous, not to get promoted, not to grow their benefit packages, not to appease their bosses, not to retire, not to party, not to gamble, not to take unreasonable risks… and not to one-up their co-workers, neighbors, friends, or in-laws. Each has “a better idea” and winning acceptance for that idea is the fuel for the fire.

“Yeah, sounds good,” I’ve been told by numerous representatives of all three oppressed career arenas, “but we are the ones who get the jobs done, who make the markets, who spend the big bucks and create the jobs that grow the economy.” Sorry folks. You’re way off base. You don’t really do any of the above, except spend, which I might add, doesn’t take much brainpower. Small business creates the jobs, makes the markets, and stimulates the economy. Period.

Some entrepreneurial advice for government, corporate, and political spenders: Regardless of whether your perspective is manufacturing, operational, creative, sales, administrative or customer service, STOP WASTING TIME, ENERGY, AND MONEY analyzing every ounce of minutia trying to uncover who did what to whom under what circumstances and choose instead to focus on the process of what’s happening and how to make it better . . . Git R Done!

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 Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US  or comment below.

When is a pat on the back

  really a kick in the butt?

A client tells you your service is great, then complains about it later to others. Assuming nothing changed along the way to erode the value of your praiseworthy performance, your sense of anguish may simply be the result of of a mixed message. Mixed messages find their way into everyday business exchanges with increasing regularity.

“Pretty good job . . . for a woman!” is a typical example. “You’re doing this the right way, but you need to slow down and think it through better!” is another. Have you ever heard something like: “We need to move forward with plans to collaborate, but not at the expense of our own department (division, team, group)?”

Mixed messages are nonproductive. Mixed messages often couch hidden agendas. Unlike much problem solving that requires “two to tango” and cannot be realistically addressed by a single entity alone, mixed message situations can be resolved by one person taking preventive measures. These include paraphrasing, note taking, feedback, diagramming, and offering/ requesting examples. 

1)  PARAPHRASING. Instead of simply taking statements at face value and then squirming with them later, ask: “Do I understand you correctly to mean . . . (and repeat back what you think you heard, using your own words)?”

2)  NOTE TAKING. The biggest problem with note taking is that most people do not take notes. And even when they do, they fail to directly request the speaker to allow for it. “Would you mind please slowing down on (or repeating) that point for me  so I can make note of it because I don’t want to forget what you said.” is not just called for; it’s flattering to the speaker. But write it!!

3)  FEEDBACK. Speakers need to pause periodically and take inventory: “How are we doing here so far? Do you have any questions? Is all of this information clear?” Listeners need to politely interrupt periodically and take inventory: “Excuse me. Can we take a ‘Time Out’ minute here to summarize this last bit of information? I want to make sure I understand what you mean.” Write it!!

4)  DIAGRAMS. When speaker or listener is not 100% sure that communications are clear, ask for a diagram of the information; arranging keywords and ideas visually helps ensure accuracy, and can often illuminate a new perspective.

5)  EXAMPLES. Ask for them. Very few exchanges of information fail to become transparently clear when examples are offered and discussed.

Getting tangled up in miscommunication can be frustrating, annoying, and stressful. One person who is determined to “get it right” the first time, and who is willing to accept that it may take longer and be more work, will ultimately experience greater accuracy in dealing with others, and accuracy spells success.                               

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 Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US  or comment below.