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How To Do First Things First When Selling #463
Have you ever been in a situation where a small mistake in the beginning messed up a deal at the end? This happens when you get impatient and try to skip steps and push selling a little too hard. I just learned this the other day that impatience is really entitlement. It’s thinking “how dare that prospect not sign on the dotted line “. So it begs the question, what makes you so important? Who are you to make decisions for your prospects? Isn’t it their money they’re spending? Isn’t their problem they want to solve? Look I get it. I know these mistakes because I’ve made them myself and sadly it never goes well. What’s difficult is not overdoing it and finding that balance. That’s the topic for today
Today’s Chapter: Do the Difficult First When Selling
Each Seller is responsible for many tasks
Yet all tasks are not equal.
Do the difficult ones while they are easy.
Do the key tasks while they are small.
.
Great oak trees start from a single acorn.
Getting started is often the greatest struggle.
The Master Seller doesn’t make the sale happen.
They allow the sale to happen.
They let go of manipulation,
cajoling and harassing.
They simply remind the buyers of
who they are
and how they can help.
No matter the length of the sales cycle
It all begins with a single outreach.
Today’s Story
Clearly Chris was working hard. Oftentimes the first to arrive in the morning and the last to leave at night. Given all the effort, Pat was surprised by the meager number of deals in Chris’s pipeline. One day Pat remarked,
“With all your effort, I’m surprised your sales funnel isn’t filled to the top.”
Chris leaned back “I know I know but day after day I keep running out of time”.
Pat paused and then asked “I took a peak at your sales funnel yesterday and have some thoughts. Would you like to hear them?”
Chris’s eyes widened “Yes!”
“I noticed that many of the prospects are not well qualified and many of the deals have not engaged the decision maker. I also see you spend a lot of time fetching information for prospects who aren’t that interested plus devote hours to internal conversations at the office.. Any one of these things wouldn’t be a problem but all added together, they can overwhelm an entire day”
Chris nodded and then Pat went on,
“Lao Tze said that the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. The most important task you have each day is to reach out and advance each opportunity according to where they’re at. Engage the buyers to advance the deals as they see fit. Busy work doesn’t bring value. Value is in the eye of the customers .“
Take Action Quote
Rushing into action, you will fail. Trying to grasp a deal you will lose it. Forcing a prospect to close, you will ruin all possibility of ever closing them. Too often the sale is lost to early mistakes so it’s best to prevent trouble from the start.
According to the Book of Ecclesiastes
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens”
The same is true when selling.
Discover, qualify, schedule, listen, each is dependent on the other. Deals progress step by step. No steps can be skipped. With patience and gratitude it’s best we allow the sale to happen of its own accord. Since you haven’t closed the deal, you have nothing to lose. Relax, have faith. It will all work out.
Habanero Media Network
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How to Connect with Pat Helmers at Sales Babble
Sales Babble shares selling secrets for non-sellers. Masterful selling is understanding what buyers want, discerning if you can help, showing what you have and helping them to make a decision that is good for their business and yours. See https://salesbabble.com
I’ve interviewed 100s of sales experts and discuss all things sales: prospecting, qualifying, value propositions, presentations, demos, closing, generating referrals, earning references, upselling, marketing, lead generation, copywriting, and most important the right selling mindset. Stop fearing sales and embrace it.
This is a production of Habanero Media https://habaneromedia.net
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