There is a difference between top sales producers… the mediocre… and those treading water.
It seems that the mediocre producers… and those who aspire to be mediocre producers must have read that memo. The memo says that you should never quit, keep calling, go meet everybody because anybody could be your client, don’t even try to distinguish the best prospects from the average prospects from the needle-in-a-haystack prospects. Why? “You never know” where the next big one will come from.
That lousy memo has burned out a lot of talented salespeople. Top producers don’t think or act that way. An example…
The top producer of a national sales team I spoke to recently stood up in the middle of the presentation and said, “I make them convince me they are worth my time. I tell them it is a big commitment, that meeting will take a lot of time, that it is a big change. I ask a lot of questions. If they won’t answer my questions or seem hesitant I pass.”
Know what top sales producers have that the rest don’t?
Clarity.
Clarity about whom is worth more of their time, who is worth less of their time.
Clarity about what a proper foundation for a sale looks like.
Clarity about the sales process that is most likely to lead to a close.
Clarity about when it is time to cut a prospect loose.
Those who seek to break into the ranks of the top producers should look up from their PowerPoint presentations long enough to think about the big picture.
You have choices.
You can choose to use actions and methods most likely to lead to a close.
You can choose actions and methods less likely to lead to a close.
You can choose to sell to those likely to buy more.
You can choose to sell to those likely to buy less.
You can choose to invest time with those probable to buy.
You can choose to invest your time with those less likely to buy.
If there are people in your company or your industry that are selling more than you…. Guess what? They are making better choices.
You can too. And one of the most critical choices you make is where you invest your time. In a high probability sales zone or a low probability sales zone.
Top producers have clarity about the very best use of their time and are absolutely ruthless about discarding low probability prospects to seek higher probability prospects.
If you spend too much time with tire-kickers, your proposals move like the dead and others not as smart or hard-working as you are selling more… you are making poor choices as to where to put your time. This can be changed quickly.
It seems that the farther you get away from top sales production, the more resistance there is to the idea that not all suspects are alike and that you simply can’t be spending time with a large group of low probability close small volume suspects looking for a decent sale needle in the haystack. If you find yourself saying “But anybody could be our client,” “You never know” or “We don’t want to miss anyone,” you are probably making very poor choices about where to invest your time. Usually there are a lot of better quality prospects out there waiting for your call, but they won’t hear from you. You don’t have the time.
Why does that top producer above start chasing prospects away from the very start?
Because he has more high probability close larger sales volume targets than he has time for. Most salespeople are in a similar situation. There are more great suspects out there than you have time to chase. Do you have the time to chase them?
That top producers choose to fill up their time with those most desirable and discard the rest. They has clarity about who is more desirable than not and have no problem letting people go. That is one of the reasons why they are top producers.
So start doing what top producers do…
open the cellar door and start throwing prospects down the stairs.
Best wishes for sales success,
Scott Channell
