The One Thing You Can Tell Yourself To Make More Sales

Customers. The one thing we take for granted is our customers.

We think that once we close a sale we’ve a customer for life. It doesn’t work that way.

We’re looking at the sales process from the wrong perspective.

Instead of thinking we’ll get continued business from a customer… we should assume that it’s only a single transaction. That there will be no repeat business.

Let me explain.

The single biggest reasons that salespeople – and the businesses they work for – aren’t as successful as they could be is that they stop looking for new customers.

Here’s Tom’s story.

Tom sells computer software. When he started fifteen years ago he didn’t have any business, so he went out and looked for customers. With persistence, determination and a bit of luck he found some.
Every once in a while he landed a WHALE. A huge account.

His success continued for several years. Tom’s small business sales grew. He made more money. Became more successful. He thought it would last forever.

Then he hit a plateau. His sales – and income – leveled off.

Why He lost his focus. Instead of looking for new customers Tom spent all of his time ‘servicing’ his existing ones. He got bogged down in paperwork and lots of administrative things.

He found himself spending hours each day in unproductive meetings.

He had stopped doing the things that had made him a success in the first place:

* Prospecting.

* Networking.

* Working the phone.

* Seeing new people.

* Creating new opportunities.

He rested on his laurels – and his previous successes – and coasted. This worked for a while. In Tom’s case for the better part of ten years.

Tom had a couple of wonderful accounts. They gave him a lot of business. He sat on them. He enjoyed those repeat sales. The handful of referrals that came to him made everything seem easy.

But in the 11th or 12th years something started to happen. His business began to fall apart.

It started slowly. Subtly. Tom never noticed it. But there was attrition. First one account left. Than a second. Then a third.

Tom didn’t pay it any attention. The drop in income was offset by some miscellaneous new accounts and the repeat business from his great accounts. Nothing to worry about.

One morning the phone rang. Tom had lost one of his ‘great’ accounts.

The company had been acquired and all software purchases would be handled out of the corporate offices.

All of a sudden it hit him. His income was about to drop by 30 to 50 percent. There was nothing in the pipeline and it’s been so long since he’s looked for new business that he didn’t remember how to do it.

Tom was devastated and overwhelmed by panic.

He called me and asked me to teach him how to sell again. During our conversations it became apparent that Tom never realized how vulnerable he had become because he relied on a handful of large accounts for his sales.

He wasn’t aware of the four reasons you can lose a good account that have nothing to do with the quality of work you do. You can lose a key customer because

1. The company closed the division or plant.

2. The company was acquired.

3. The company went out of business

4. The contact person – with whom a long-term relationship has developed – has left. Maybe he took another job. Got promoted. Was downsized. Or retired and moved to Arizona. Whatever. Now there’s a new person sitting at the old friend’s desk and she’s going to put the account out for bid.

How do you protect yourself from this dilemma How do you make sure that what happened to Tom doesn’t happen to you?

You don’t take anything for granted. Assume that every sale is your last one.

This forces you to continually look for new business and new customers.

It keeps you hungry. It keeps you on your toes.

Wake up hungry. Think to yourself, “I’m unemployed. I’m broke. I don’t have any customers.” Which is the way you felt when you started in your career.

Stay focused. Stay motivated.

Then go out and look for new customers.

Here are the five activities I encouraged Tom to focus on each and every day:

1. Prospect. Look for new people who need your product or service.

2. Network. Get out of your office and give yourself the opportunity to meet new people.

3. Get On The Telephone. The single biggest reason salespeople aren’t as successful as they could be is that they don’t follow up on their business opportunities. They never pick up the phone and make the call.

If you want help with your telephone techniques I’ve two training manuals that will help you create more opportunities and generate more business:

4. Search For Problems. When you’re meeting with a prospect ask great questions. Search for problems.

5. Clean Up Your Database. Get rid of the dead weight in your database. Get rid of the people you’ve called on forever who have never bought.

Get rid of the people who asked you to send them something and never returned your phone calls.

Much to Tom’s delight and surprise once he changed his focus from doing miscellaneous paperwork and administrative work to looking for new customers, he found them.

Within a few months Tom had created a number of new sales opportunities that he expects to close within the next 60 to 90 days. His goal is to replace his lost income by the end of the year.

Treat every sale as if it were your last one and your business will grow beyond your wildest dreams.