To be seasoned in sales learn to connect the dots

Connecting the dots enables one to transcend into being a seasoned salesperson without letting the unique experiences in the profession weigh one down. FOTOSEARCH 

By John Kageche

In Summary

• In sales, connecting the dots will determine professional health or morbidity.
• Seeing sales as a profession prepares the salesperson to accept that he may start seeing the light after months of connecting the dots and this is a never-ending process.

Connect the dots is a form of puzzle containing a sequence of numbered dots. When a line is drawn connecting the dots the outline of an object is revealed.

In adult discourse, the phrase “connect the dots” can be used to illustrate the ability to associate one idea with another, to find the big picture — or salient feature — in a mass of data.

In sales, connecting the dots will determine professional health or morbidity. It is unfortunate that many sales people fail to connect the dots of their cumulative experiences to become seasoned salespeople.

To illustrate, a client asked our firm to take his invention “to market” or in layman language, make it commercially viable. The client only had the prototype and tonnes of faith that there was a huge market that needed the service.

Based purely on an emotional connection (something about the client’s passion), we asked for a week to establish viability before consenting.

A few days of secondary research demonstrated that the faith the client had in the prototype was not at all misplaced. In fact, the product was bang on what the target market required.

Armed with these new found and credible statistics, we had connected our first dot. We sought to connect the next one. We developed a sales presentation and called up our first prospect. Two more dots had been connected. We presented, received objections and general feedback. Just like that three more dots were connected. An object was emerging.

Following the feedback from first presentation we improved our presentation for prospect number two. Another two dots were connected. We soldiered on inspired by the prospects who both admitted we were on to something.

The presentations to prospects number six and seven differed sharply from presentation one and two. Now we had industry examples that supported our presentation, choice words we could use that the prospect could connect with and relevant industry jargon to show we had cut our teeth. Listening to us, one would imagine we were veterans in that industry. Meantime, all we were doing was merely connecting the dots.

We consciously and deliberately borrowed from previous experiences to improve and inform subsequent ones. We trusted we would, in retrospect, see the light. Lo and behold from being utter novices, seemingly, we were now industry experts.

Our audience was warmer and more receptive; we spoke their language. We had come of age.

By this time the object that initially was a haze was now coming closer and taking shape — we could make a calculated guess as to what it could be.

But why was the foregoing possible? Because we connected the first dot, and then the next, then the fifth, ninth and so on.

To improve in the profession, salespeople must be prepared to connect the dots. Seeing sales as a profession prepares the salesperson to accept that he may start seeing the light after months of connecting the dots and this is a never-ending process.

Progressive salespeople connect the dots by looking forward to objections with the intention of finding suitable responses.