I'm a salesman and, if you're reading this, there's a good chance you are too. The simple fact of the matter is a salesperson has three basic jobs: prospecting, presenting, and closing. I realize we have other things (such as servicing) to do as well but let's keep things simple for now. Do yourself a favor and always remember the order of your tasks as a salesperson. Prospecting comes first.
I'm
always amazed when I talk with a salesperson and they say they don't
prospect. I immediately know their income is lower than it could be.
A common refrain I hear is people telling me they only work by
referral. What a load of bollocks! Don't get me wrong, referrals
are great and sometimes we do have our schedules "all
filled-up." But, the simple fact of the matter is, you can't go
through you're entire career working only from referrals. I mean,
you can, you'll just have to settle for a lot less money.
Salespeople
that refuse to prospect are a big problem. Stephen Walsh reports, in
the Southern Business Review, that studies repeatedly show sales call
reluctance is more responsible for underperformance in sales than any
other factor. But I've got some great news for you. I know EXACTLY
what causes call reluctance. Better yet, I'm going to share it with
you. It's not that old fear of rejection bullcrap. It's something
much more precise. You've probably never heard what I'm going to
tell you. What I can say is that it's super solid science and it
will change your life forever. So stay tuned because I can't tell it
to you in this post. The reason for this post is to talk about
television, visualization, and sushi.
Let
me repeat, if you're in sales, I sure hope you understand that YOU
NEED TO PROSPECT. This is an area that I'm pretty damn good at.
And, like I said, I'm going to be putting out some amazing
information that will definitely help you. For now, I wanted to draw
your attention to a TV show on the National Geographic channel. This
show is called Wicked Tuna. Have you seen it? I love it. It's the
story of various boats and their crews, and efforts to make money
catching bluefin tuna. It's set in Massachusetts hence the word
"Wicked" in the title.
What
does that have to do with prospecting? Everything! You see, one way
to think of prospecting is that you're fishing for people. That turns
out to be a phrase straight out of the Bible, fishing for people. I
love to fish but I don't always love to prospect. Let's be honest,
prospecting can be uncomfortable. The key is getting past the inertia
(which is another topic I'm going to cover later.) For now, I want to
invite you to visualize with me. When I'm prospecting it helps to
imagine I'm fishing. That I'm a fisher of men. If you like to fish,
you should be able to visualize what I'm talking about. If not,
watch Wicked Tuna!
The
men on this show absolutely bust their butts to earn a meager living.
It really puts things into perspective for me. When I'm
prospecting, and my mind is screaming a million other things I should
be doing, I remember Wicked Tuna. I know that the voice in my head
is just the coward inside me trying to get to me avoid a little bit
of discomfort. But then I remind myself that in order to land the
big catch I have to out-fish everybody else. So fish hard!
