“A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.” – Francis Bacon
Although this quote didn’t originally apply to salespeople we feel that it captures one of the key characteristics of high performing sales people – that they are proactive and make things happen by stimulating demand.
In boom times salespeople can get by (and even do quite well) relying on opportunities that come to them or which they stumble across and find by working the numbers. Working hard is a great foundation but liberating sales potential involves working smart as well.
A great resolution for the new year is to focus on developing your ability to stimulate demand by becoming a master of your market, understanding your value and developing the ability to ask lightbulb questions that move your prospect out of the satisfied stage of their buying cycle.
Alan Morton
Senior Consultant at SBR Consulting
Alan you are so right – working in the consulting space it has been said by many – winning business in times of delivery and you will always have business. People like to talk to busy people – so the key is be busy! The key that I say with many and often hear back from others is have a number and stick to it no matter what. This is the 100th anniversary of the Amundson and Scott race to the Antartic well intrestingly Amundsen would make sure the team would progress at least 25miles a day – every day no matter what – Scott’s was to go as far as you can when you had the chance. We know which was the winning strategy!