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Don't just sit there, phone someone!

Written by: Wayne Berry

Article Overview: Many sales people dislike prospecting. For some that is face to face prospecting and for others it is prospecting on the telephone. I've identified the factors that make the difference between a successful prospector and a sales person who hate prospecting. Prospecting is a skill. Once you develop these skills, prospecting is easy.

Don't just sit there, phone someone!

Over the last few days I have been working with some of our clients in Singapore.

On Friday I asked a group of sales people, “How many of you really enjoy prospecting?”

Predictably, more than 90% of these sales people told me they hated prospecting. Not just disliked prospecting, but actually hated prospecting.

“So why is that?” I asked.

Here are some of the answers they gave me

* It mostly a waste of time.
* Most people I call tell me they’re not interested.
* It’s too hard these days, there’s too much competition.
* I hate the rejection. Who needs that!
* Some prospects are down right rude to me
* I feel I am bothering people


Now I have asked these two questions hundreds of times over the last few years across Australia, in New Zealand, in The Philippines, in Malaysia and even in China and guess what?

Where ever I go I get the same answers!

There is no denying that prospecting is one of the most challenging parts of being in sales, however I have also met and worked with some sales people who actually enjoy prospecting.

Here’s what I have noticed about these two groups.

Those who hate prospecting...

* They are generally not high achievers
* They only do well when market conditions are good and people are buying anyway
* They are not pro-active. Instead they are re-active and hope the phone rings.
* They often expect the company to provide them with leads. If the company doesn’t, then they blame the company for their lack of success.
* They are no good at prospecting because they have poor skills and no system.
* They seem to change jobs frequently.They are either asked to leave due to poor performance or leave believing “the grass will be greener elsewhere”.


Those who like prospecting...

* They are always high achievers and high income earners
* They do well whether the market is good or not
* They make their own luck and are pro-active with their prospecting.
* They do not wait for the phone to ring or for the company to provide them with leads.
* They are often given better quality leads by the company.
* They are good at prospecting and have well developed prospecting skills
* They have a system for their prospecting


Very often these sales people are graduates of our TOP GUN® Sales Academy programme, so I do get to follow their progress and I can tell you what they do that makes the difference.

Here’s what makes the difference with these high achievers.

* They all use a script. They do not make up their approach as they go along.
* They work to a system. They know what works and use it.
* They use the telephone more than face to face prospecting because they know this is more time efficient.
* They have taken the time to develop the skills to do this well.
* They are disciplined and set time aside a predefined amount of time every month to prospect
* They prospect even when business is good and when they don’t need prospects. They know that’s how they are going to keep business flowing to them.
* They feel good about prospecting because they believe they are helping people by approaching them to share a good idea.
* They track their conversion ratios and these are often 5/10 or better.
* When the ratio goes down, they look to themselves for the reason why and do not blame outside factors. More often then not they discover that they have changed their system and then go back to what was working.
* They don’t take rejection personally. They realise that prospecting is a numbers game.
* They know how to get through to decision makers
* They don’t try to sell on the telephone. They sell only the appointment
* They know how to get the prospecting saying, “So how do you do that? Can you tell me more?”

And these things set them apart from the average sales person.
Next week I’ll be back in Melbourne, and the week after in Sydney and I’ll be conducting evening workshops in those cities on prospecting (Click here for a pdf brochure) and I’ll be asking those sales people…

“So how many of you really enjoy prospecting?”

How would you answer that question, if you were there? Which group do you belong to?

Group number 2 is the place to be. They make their own luck and enjoy the success that brings, and it’s actually quite simple to join that group.

It’s just a matter of making the decision to develop the skills to become very good at prospecting. Anyone can, but very few will and once you’ve become a master of prospecting, everything changes and success is easy.

Have a great week. Make it a great week!

Wayne Berry CSP

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Article Tags: australia, china, few days, grass, high achievers, income earners, jobs, new zealand, philippines, poor performance, prospects, rejection, singapore, waste of time



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