Sales Prospecting Is a Dirty Business (or Why a Clean Desk Is Not a Good Sign)
Sales Prospecting Is a Dirty Business (or Why a Clean Desk Is Not a Good Sign)
In the sales world we have the term "Call Reluctance", a person just can't bring him or herself to make the necessary sales call on a new prospective client. Everyone suffers from this to one degree or another, but any successful salesperson overcomes it.
I don't think there is a business in existence that doesn't require its sales people to prospect for sales to one degree or another. If you don't find new clients, the day will come where you may not have any, or just a few. Clients do come and go. Many may stay with you for years, but there will always be attrition. A valuable contact may leave a company, retire, be promoted, or the company itself may change directions, change suppliers, or possibly go out of business. For whatever reason change occurs, a good salesperson has to have a plan for finding new clients.
Why do so many sales people resist prospecting particularly cold calling? Rejection. We all hate rejection. Don't take it personally. I guess for some people that's easier said than done. Prospecting is just like any other skill, do it enough and it will become second nature. I have always thought of prospecting as the "down and dirty" part of sales. I don't mean this negatively. It's like digging out a foundation before you build your house. It's the dirty part of the job, but it has to be done. Build a poor foundation, and your house will come down around you.
So suck it up, tell yourself that prospecting is necessary. Set aside a time each day for prospecting, and do it. If you devote just 1 hour per day to prospecting, that's 5 hours per week, and 240 hours of prospecting per year. (I gave you four weeks of vacation...probably more than you deserve.)
Whatever happened to the guy with the clean desk? We learned that instead of making prospecting sales calls, he was going home everyday to watch the soaps, and he would return to the office about 4 in the afternoon. We quickly made it possible for him to watch daytime TV all day.
Sales Prospecting Is a Dirty Business or Why a Clean Desk Is Not a Good Sign - To learn more about this author, visit Don Zihlman's Website.
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In my former life as a sales manager for a broadcast company, we had hired a new salesman who had come from the retail world. He had an outgoing personality, a great handshake, a smile on his face, and the cleanest and most organized desk I had ever seen. Unfortunately his clean desk was a result from the fact that he couldn't bring himself to make prospecting sales calls.. he couldn't do it on the phone, and he couldn't get in the car and visit new prospective customers in person. Instead, he focused his energies into organizing his desk. His was the neatest and most organized desk not in the just the sales department, but throughout the entire broadcast company.
In the sales world we have the term "Call Reluctance", a person just can't bring him or herself to make the necessary sales call on a new prospective client. Everyone suffers from this to one degree or another, but any successful salesperson overcomes it.
I don't think there is a business in existence that doesn't require its sales people to prospect for sales to one degree or another. If you don't find new clients, the day will come where you may not have any, or just a few. Clients do come and go. Many may stay with you for years, but there will always be attrition. A valuable contact may leave a company, retire, be promoted, or the company itself may change directions, change suppliers, or possibly go out of business. For whatever reason change occurs, a good salesperson has to have a plan for finding new clients.
Why do so many sales people resist prospecting particularly cold calling? Rejection. We all hate rejection. Don't take it personally. I guess for some people that's easier said than done. Prospecting is just like any other skill, do it enough and it will become second nature. I have always thought of prospecting as the "down and dirty" part of sales. I don't mean this negatively. It's like digging out a foundation before you build your house. It's the dirty part of the job, but it has to be done. Build a poor foundation, and your house will come down around you.
So suck it up, tell yourself that prospecting is necessary. Set aside a time each day for prospecting, and do it. If you devote just 1 hour per day to prospecting, that's 5 hours per week, and 240 hours of prospecting per year. (I gave you four weeks of vacation...probably more than you deserve.)
Whatever happened to the guy with the clean desk? We learned that instead of making prospecting sales calls, he was going home everyday to watch the soaps, and he would return to the office about 4 in the afternoon. We quickly made it possible for him to watch daytime TV all day.
Sales Prospecting Is a Dirty Business or Why a Clean Desk Is Not a Good Sign - To learn more about this author, visit Don Zihlman's Website.
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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