OUR PROSPECT’S RESPONSIBILITY - A NEW PERSPECTIVE Our primary function is to sell and to go to the bank. The role that our prospect serves in their organization is to never help us reach our numbers or make sure that we meet our behavior activity requirements. This is our responsibility. Let's take a walk in the moccasins of a prospect ("you are my friend once you have walked in my moccasins"). Prospects are individuals-humans. Each is bogged down with as many day-to-day challenges as we are, or at least, they perceive this to be the case. In their business worlds they serve many masters and are making sure they deliver required results. They have their own agendas, want to be the star, be promoted and take home bigger paychecks. They want to contribute to their organization’s success. They likely deal with office politics, lack of appropriate resources and the errors of others (it is always "their" fault). If they sell, they’re busy trying to get and keep customers of their own so they can make their numbers each month.

Free White Papers We also have free white papers on effective sales pitches and designing top performing sales teams available at our website.

On top of all of this, they have their personal world. It’s as busy as ours. They do "sweat the small stuff" and to them it’s not all small stuff-- it’s huge stuff. It’s so huge that Carlson’s book "Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff" became a best seller. They have arguments with their spouses before they go to work, their kids have the flu and their earnings are less than expenses this month. A parent or a friend just died and one’s in the hospital, which reminds them they need to have those chest pains checked out pretty soon. They feel like time is going by and are questioning what it’s all about. It’s about them. It is all about them, their concerns, their frustration, their pressure and their disappointments. In a prospect’s mind they’re the center of the universe, and unless you can show them how to improve a piece of their world, they’re not interested.

Right now, as you read this article, your subconscious is shouting: "Wait a minute! But I can show them how I can improve a piece of their world. We’re different. We’re better. We’re the best. We’re unique. We’re easier to use. We save them money. We save them time. We're the market leader. We do what we promise. We listen. We solve their problems. We’re strategic. We become a partner in their success." Great! But they hear this a million times a day from a million different vendors. They have heard this for years and years.

You may actually be the perfect solution to their challenges but again, get inside their moccasins -- their worlds. They have their pressing priorities (probably more than 20 at any moment) and unless you can handle one of the top five, it’s unlikely you'll get much more than a moment of their time and that is a fact! So, why do we feel they owe us the common courtesy of a return phone call or the appointment to discuss how we can change their lives just because we say so? They don’t, they won’t and yet it drives us nuts.

We spend too much time each year crying about prospects and customers not doing this or always doing that. We get our "OK- Not OK" needs met by commiserating with others in sales on this topic. Not one moment of complaining helps you make your number this quarter. It is and always will be the case, that prospects and customers will take action with salespeople they feel can solve their top priorities-- perceived or real. Remember that both are the same in the mind of a prospect or customer.

Calls will not be returned. Proposals will not be read. Brochures and collateral material will be circularly filed. Intellectually we all know this, but emotionally we believe they read the literature, they liked the proposal and they are about to call us to place an order. None of this was ever in the prospect's mind; thus we created our own depth of "rejection."

Solution time… No mystery here, no Secret to Success, no Laws or Principals of Selling….

Make knowing your prospect’s and customer’s world your business, and recognize where your solution (product or service) presently fits in your prospect's priority list. If you’re cold calling, your product or service is not likely to even be on the radar at this moment. If you’re in the initial stages of the sales process and you’re not getting the return calls after a couple of attempts, you may have lost the interest of your prospect or you've been moved out of their top priority list for whatever reason. Recognize it and don't waste a moment being annoyed by it. Easier said than done, but the best salespeople work to minimize the emotions and quickly move on.

The key to dealing with prospects’ and customers’ rude behaviors is to come from abundance. You have a choice at this stage of the sales cycle; you can either eliminate these prospects from your priority list or figure out a way to get into their top five list. The problem is, if you have a small prospect pool, you can’t disqualify potential customers quite as easily as those who have a large prospect base (abundance). You are trapped; you have to make your solution a priority issue to the prospect and customer who is non-responsive. You have to squeeze every breath of life out of every possible deal. That is painful!

Individuals buy, not companies-- those same individuals who are the center of the universe and have their own personal and business worlds. If you want to be a part of their worlds now, you must be a resource and a priority to them. You can’t just say you’re the best, unique, number one, market leading, caring, listening, a strategic partner-none of these statements relate to a prospect or customer-- and that’s reality.

How do you become the resource and priority? Stay with us and we'll help you with it throughout the year.

- You will continue to receive the "Sales Tips Newsletter" free
- Visit our web site and download various white papers (www.SalesFocusInc.com)
- Order one of our complimentary Executive Briefings:

• "Building an Organization That Sells"
• "Ways to Motivate - Other Than Money"
• "Executive Briefing / Seminar Selling - Give Me a Good Business Reason to Do It!"

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• Sales Turn Around Expertise
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• Sales Training
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About Sales Focus Inc.

Sales Focus is driven towards a single goal: "Generating Immediate Revenue for our Clients! " Whether it's implementing our S.O.L.D. Methodology, Developing Specialized Training Programs or Launching an Outsourced Sales Force, we remain focused on the goal of TACTICALLY GENERATING RAPID REVENUE.

A good way for us to evaluate if there is possibly a good fit for both of us, is for you to order a copy of our Executive Briefing - "Tactical Plan for Generating Immediate Additional Revenue".

For more Information contact us directly at 866.840.8305 or 410.442.5600, or send us an email at info@SalesFocusInc.com or visit our web site: www.SalesFocusInc.com.

Sales Focus Inc.
2205 Warwick Way, Suite 100
Marriottsville, MD 21104
P. 410.442.5600
F. 410.581.8306
Toll Free: 866.840.8305
URL: www.SalesFocusInc.com