Get Active The minor tragedy for LBM salespeople has been two decades of unmitigated prosperity. The market has been so strong that salespeople have made a living by simply keeping up with demand. Because of the excessive demand, salespeople could boast of record sales performances with virtually no proactive prospecting efforts.
Salespeople naively have assumed they are doing their job merely because customers keep them busy and sales were “up.” Now that we are in a slowdown, dealers are realizing that proactive prospecting efforts are an urgent matter. Unless a salesperson makes prospecting an urgent task and a daily (or weekly) priority, it is an easy responsibility to procrastinate for prolonged periods. Keep in mind that prospecting is much more than finding prospects that will allow you to bid for business. The result of the “bid and pray” strategy is that the sales process leads to the inevitable combative price negotiation. This is the error that salespeople consistently make in our industry. Instead, prospecting should focus on cultivating relationships and positioning yourself in second place with as many prospects as possible.
To be a true Sales Leader, steer your 2007 conversations away from price and take a long-term approach to cultivating loyal, long-term business relationships. Here’s how:
- Pick up the phone! When I was a sales representative for an insurance organization I was taught early on that the telephone was my No. 1 tool for productivity. Nearly 15 years later, when I started my own training business, I was still utilizing the same skill. All too often, members of our industry like to say, “We’re not like other sales professions.” I agree with this in many regards, except when it comes to telephoning potential customers. If you don’t schedule time to make phone calls to telemarket to potential customers, you will never control your destiny.
- Make the first phone call. The toughest phone call is the first phone call. Stop procrastinating. Don’t worry so much about where you get your sources for leads. In the end, it doesn’t matter because there is only one way to begin a new relationship with a customer and that is by talking to them. It will take dozens of calls to find a qualified lead. Confucius said that a thousand-mile journey begins with a single step. Pick up the phone and make the first call!
- Save your excuses. As the market begins to slow, managers and salespeople throughout the country will be eager to explain why sales are shrinking. The fact is that someone is going to lose. If you have experienced consistent growth in sales for the past decade and feel pretty proud of your performance, that is a signal you take full credit for the growth that has been fueled by the surging economy. Therefore you should accept full responsibility for your sales performance as the market cools. Stop explaining and complaining and start prospecting, because it is the only thing you can do to temper the impact of the economic downturn. Imagine how much more successful you’ll be when the market picks up if you have been aggressively prospecting for new business when the market is slow.
Make 2007 the year in which you hone your prospecting skills so you never have to worry about market conditions again. Remember that if you have found yourself suddenly concerned by the lack of sales opportunities in your pipeline, don’t let it happen again! Now is the time to start building your future. Prospecting is the key.
