The Fortune is in the Follow-Up

Roughly 10 years ago, I was doing my traditional night time routine with my children. This routine included baths, books and bed.?While we finished our bathing routine and were ready to snuggle up on the couch and pick 3 books each (2 children), my daughter picks Green Eggs & Ham.?I'm sure everyone reading this remembers the Green Eggs & Ham book from their childhood years.

In Green Eggs & Ham, Sam-I-Am continues to ask the other character if he would like Green Eggs & Ham.?Consistently and constantly, the unnamed character declines.?Yet, Sam-I-Am continues to pitch the product multiple different ways, in a house, with a mouse, on a train or in the rain.?Yet, the unnamed character objects with, "I do not like them, Sam-I-Am."?

PREFACE THE TOPIC OF THIS POST

Let me take a moment to preface why we are exploring the book, Green Eggs & Ham. As I was reading this book to my children, I started to realize, "This dude is persistent, creative, but also consistent." As I tucked the children into bed, I go back to pull out the book, and walk through a buying cycle using that book. I also walked through the selling cycle and started to draw out the process. I probably looked like Charlie Day from, 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' where he goes on a conspiratorial rant about a man named Pepe Silvia.

WHY FOLLOW UP IS IMPORTANT

Now, to put this book into perspective to help you understand why I find this book so profound for salesmen and business development agents alike. I invite you to review these statistics to understand why this book is a great example of persistence in sales.?

The Dartnell Corp conducted a survey with salesmen and prospective business to properly gauge what the prospecting numbers look like.?What they found will absolutely and directly correlate to Green Eggs & Ham, and Sales/Business Development.

• 48% of Salesmen quit after the first unsuccessful contact
• 72% stop after the 2nd unsuccessful contact
• 84% stop after the 3rd unsuccessful contact
• 90% waived the white flag after the 4th unsuccessful attempt

Conversely, 85% of all sales close after 5+ follow-up touch-points. The data suggests that it takes a minimum of 5 or more touch points in the form of follow-up to close a higher percentage of your opportunities.

What would Green Eggs & Ham look like if Sam-I-Am stopped after the unnamed character said, "I do not like Green Eggs & Ham, Sam-I-Am"??The book would be 3 pages long -- much like the sales cycle of most individuals who fall into that 48% category.?There is another profound statistic that is completely unrelated to the Dartnell Corp's survey.?10% of salespeople make that 5th call, and profoundly enough 85% of all sales require at least 5-7 touch points (calls, visits, emails, texts, etc.) to close down that account successfully.?

WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN?

This all means that you need to be prepared to provide at least (minimum) 5 different ways to pitch your product.?I like to focus on the 5 areas of business planning.?Each business focuses on 5 different areas and when doing strategic business planning sessions focus on these same 5 areas.?

1. Management:??We can train your staff to operate the new software, therefore removing any form of management and training time you would normally need to allocate to successfully launch our software.
2. Marketing:??We will market you as one of our "Model" businesses for folks to come and see our new system in action -- conversely, we are driving folks to your business for food and drink, or whatever they offer.?
3. Metrics:??Metrics matter, in any business.?I hit on, our reporting tools are fantastic for developing reports for decision making.?Need to make cuts due to lack of sales -- you have the reports at your finger tips.?What do you need to cut or minimize??You have the tools to make those decisions now.
4. Operations:??We increase your productivity by 35% via streamlining your operations through our system. Increased productivity equals decreased labor expenses.
5. Financial:??We save you 40%, meaning we free up 40% of your cash.?40% of your sales stays in your bank account/pockets.

HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU FOLLOW-UP?

If we go back to Sam-I-Am and his prospecting.?He tried 70x and did so in 70 very interesting and very fun different ways.?How many of you folks are able to present your product to a prospect 70x in very fun and very different ways to entice your prospect to buy?

Green Eggs & Ham, not just a kids book but a very useful resource for salesmen and business development folks alike to understand that persistence pays.?While Sam-I-Am tried to sell the unnamed character 70x, he still sold him and guess what . The unnamed character loved it!?He would try Green Eggs & Ham on a train, in the rain, on a house and with a mouse -- among 66 other ways Sam-I-Am pitched the product.?

Enjoy!