Get An Answer!

“I just need some of these sales to close” said almost every salesperson at one time. We all know the feeling of cherishing opportunities and holding onto them for far too long, and ultimately getting that dreaded “no.” I’ve seen that movie countless times, and still catch myself wasting time on “opportunities” I know I have little chance of success.

 Why have I made that mistake more than once? For me it takes me a lot longer than most to learn, and it’s much EASIER to live on false hope and promises than finding new relationships and refilling my funnel. This failure to react and rebuild my pipeline has set me back from achieving my vision many times early in my sales career. Once I finally come around to getting an answer, I can disregard my 37 hours of research, emails, voicemails, LinkedIn messages, handwritten notes and any hope I had in getting compensated for all that time invested. This reality is painful, and my goal in this article is sharing with you how I bypassed this sales challenge entirely.

I believe Peter’s “Hometown Visits” experience reflected this dilemma. Peter had a great time, and zero drama with Kelsey, Hannah, and Madison. Victoria’s hometown started out nicely but ended exactly like his other interactions with Victoria… Drama, arguments, immature back and forth bickering, and frustration…. When it came time for sending one of the 4 contestants home, it appeared Victoria was primed to say goodbye. In fact, Victoria herself was mentally preparing her exit, confident without her family visit she was the weakest link.

Despite popular, (and logical) opinions, Peter chooses to send Kelsey home who was arguably the most committed person. Peter says his mission is to leave the show with someone who wants him as much as he wants them, and Kelsey was the clear winner in the "love for Peter" department. Kelsey seemed to know something was up, as she shared her concerns audibly with her family.

In the end it looks like Peter is chasing Victoria and might follow her to his demise. Kelsey as soon as she started feeling uncertain could have asked Peter for an answer that saved her time, heartache, and opportunity to find someone who valued her. Peter nor Kelsey want the real answer because they’d be faced with rejection. Yet it’s that rejection that sparks new activity.

 How can you overcome this dilemma? It’s simple to understand, yet difficult to execute.

 1.      Focus on customers and opportunities that align with your ideal win probability. Mike Weinberg shares this quote in his book, “Identify and select strategic target accounts that give you the best chance of winning. Then invest heavily in building the arsenal of sales weapons needed to successfully carry out the attack against our chosen targets. The three weapons most worthy of attention—the sales story, proactive telephone call, and the face-to-face sales call.” “Low fit” prospects are the quickest clog of a sales pipeline. 

 Related: If you want to know more about how to define your win probability, and focus on more successful prospects check out Mike Weinberg’s New Sales Simplified Book. It’s an amazing guide for any sales organization looking to improve their efficiencies and effectiveness.

 Related: Other great Mike Weinberg quotes for building a successful healthy pipeline.

 2.      Build your pipeline. Do you remember Tommy Boy’s famous “why I suck as a salesman” clip in Tommy Boy?

He doesn’t say it in this clip, but the movie shows how every lost opportunity, makes the next prospect even more critical. Said differently, the only reason you are nervous about closing any specific opportunity is that you don’t have enough opportunities waiting for your attention. You need to think bigger, and fill your pipeline in such a way, that a “closed no” is a good thing because it allows you to focus on another qualified sales opportunity.

It’s these two mindsets that have changed my sales narrative for the good. It’s also these two mindsets that I’ve found present in all the sales leaders I’ve had the chance to work with. These sales leaders are relentless in committing time to filling their pipeline and focusing on opportunities that are a good fit for their organization.

In the end, if you’re not committed to mastering your power statement, sales story, proactive telephone call, and your face to face effectiveness, chances are your sales will always look like this:

Getting prospects' attention isn’t easy, especially if you’re not reaching out. As Mike Weinberg says, “The best intentions, target account lists, and powerful sales weapons are useless if we never launch the attack.”

?Don’t be another sales casualty, act, get answers, focus on your ideal customer profile, and become the examples others look to for success.  

 Related: Are you committed to prospecting, but lacking the tools to resonate and engage prospects? We design sales tools including direct mail concepts that capture your sales story, and power statement resulting in a 15% cold lead to appointment rate! Connect with me if you’d like our lead generation items tool kit and case studies.

What’s next for Peter? Does he chase Victoria until his demise? Who’s winning Peter’s heart? Are you buying the hype of Hannah Brown?