One of the biggest mistakes people make in sales is finding excuses for not calling people. They being this process by making assumptions and thinking for the client. “This client isn’t interested in expanding right now,” they tell themselves. “They won’t be interested in my product,” another salesperson might say. Or my personal favorite, and the most deadly of all, “They will never make a move, so calling them is a waste of my time.” Inevitably, within a few months of writing off a client that way, they make a big move – with someone else getting the deal instead of you.
It’s human nature to try and avoid hard conversations. Sales is a hard business. I’ve been doing this for more than 30 years, and even I still occasionally fall into the thought traps I just outlined. But what we have to do as salespeople is force ourselves to take the opposite approach: start making excuses for why you should call that client. As much as we may like to think we know what and how the client is thinking, we really don’t know anything until we call them up and ask.
The old adage, “Out of sight, out of mind” holds true in sales as well. If you never call the client, they may start to forget about you. Your client is also human, and prone to the same tendencies that you are. If they never hear from you, they will start making some assumptions of their own about how effective you are and how much work you are putting into their account. There’s obviously a line between regular contact and being a pest, but I think most of us can figure out where that line is with a little common sense. The majority of salespeople that I talk to fall too far on the “not calling” side of that line.
What have you got to lose? Let your New Year’s resolution be to “flip the script” this year. Next time you catch yourself making excuses for why you shouldn’t call that client, turn it around and think of a few reasons why you should. Then go ahead and make that call!
Have a great weekend,
Ro