Powerful Lessons from Your Prospects

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008 at 6:30 PM

We have a beautiful dog named Candy. A Labrador Retriever-Boxer mix. Ever since she was a puppy she did not have to share her food with any other dog, until I got married and we moved into our new house and overnight she got a “sister”. Well, Layla is 4 times smaller than Candy but way more aggressive. So when food gets served, she’s first to the bowl and she won’t move until she’s done. Candy at first, being a lady she is, would let Layla finish food first, and she would eat what was left which wasn’t much. That lasted few times until Candy evaluated her situation and realized: if she wanted the best part of dinner, she had to get to it first. Candy just learned her lesson.

Lessons are learned everywhere we go. We humans are not much different, and sales trial closes are a great source of lessons.

Every sale closing has 4 possible outcomes:

1. YES
2. NO
3. TIO
4. LESSON

1) YES – greatest thing, collect the money, deliver the product/service and off you go to the next one – singing, all the way to the bank.

2) NO – not the greatest thing, but not that bad either. When you get a NO, at least you know not to spend any more time on the follow up with this prospect. For whatever reason, they did not qualify and it’s time to move on to prospect that is qualified.

3) Think It Over – worst thing ever!!! In my opinion, I would rather get a NO any time of the day than a TIO. Then you just don’t know where you stand! You might find yourself thinking about the deal in your bed late at night, spending the weekend worrying about the outcome…will he, won’t he…instead of enjoying that time with your family. Don’t rob yourself or your family from care-free time. Friday afternoon is not the time to accept a “call me on Monday” thing. NO, Fridays, it’s either YES or NO, and you go home to your own peace-and-quite life.

4) Lesson, my favorite after YES. Every sales situation, especially the one after you get a NO is an opportunity to learn something about sales techniques and human behavior that will help you close the next deal easier. One of the greatest things you can do for yourself is to debrief your sales calls. If you have a sales coach, mentor, sales manager, partner…any one of those will do, but don’t miss a chance to learn from your experience. Not using those opportunities to learn from and improve upon your weaknesses is like leaving money on the table – a lot of money that is.