Average salespeople, like people who bet, want easy money without the effort that goes into relentless prospecting. FOTOSEARCH
By JOHN KAGECHE
The betting craze has no doubt hit most corners of this country. Able bodied men and women are flocking cyber cafés.
You will find them transfixed to the monitors, fervently
wanting, craving, needing their team to win in a process they have zero
control over.
They want to reap a lot for sowing little. They
want easy money; and every occasional small win by them or someone they
know (or are told about) serves to energise their resolve -like a
junkie, they are hooked.
We may criticise them, yet the average salesperson is no different from them-he doesn’t sell, he bets. Here’s how.
You have no prospect
As with any successful sale, betting companies thrive on relentless prospecting. Their prospects are those who bet.
The more people bet, the less the betting companies
have to give away in winnings, and the more they make in profits.
Unlike betting companies, the average salesperson complains that his
appointments, and therefore sales, are dwindling, but they do not
relentlessly seek new prospects (persons who need and can buy their
product or service).
They bet that things will miraculously look up.
Much like the dyed-in-the-wool betting addict, who swears on his
mortgaged TV set, that the next game will see him win more than enough
to clear with the shylock, get his TV set back, and be left with change
to spare.
None of this happens; and just like the
consistently ‘prospect-less’ seller he spirals into obscurity. Continual
prospecting is the cornerstone of successful selling-erratic or nil
prospecting, is the cornerstone of frustration and failure-it’s betting.
You don’t prepare for the sales call
The very first article, three years ago, spoke of
the 5Rs of preparation, that is, representation (externally, that is,
your dressing, and internally, your attitude); repertoire (having your
sales kit ready, such that you do not rummage through your stuff looking
for a calculator the way a woman does her ringing cell phone or car
keys in her handbag); research (exploring client needs through
insightful questions, studying the client on- and off-line ahead of the
presentation and reviewing your material to ensure that the PowerPoint
or Word document does not have remnants of the previous client’s
details); rehearse (something few salespeople do, telling themselves
that they will wing it-which they don’t); and finally, the 5th R is
repeat, reiterating that the 5R’s are a continual cycle.
Selling randomly is akin to betting; you have zero control over the process-you throw caution to the wind.
You are misled by the occasional win
If you had bet Sh 200,000 on Leicester City
Football Club winning the English Premier League (EPL) last year, you’d
be worth one billion shillings now. And what would you have learnt?
Nothing. Except, of course, how to reap where you’ve not sown; plus,
grow your gullible muscle to take on more gullibility.
Like the thousands of Kenyans who lost money in
pyramid schemes, your new found knowledge leads you to bet the winnings
and soon enough you are back to square one-only now you have an ulcer to
show for it.
Studies show that lottery winners frequently become
estranged from family and friends, and incur a greater incidence of
depression than the average person. Half end up worse off than they
were.
Likewise, your random meanderings may land you a juicy sale.
Say, a desperate contractor sees your branded T-shirt and says, “Hey!
You are the ones selling bid bonds? I need one for a billion right now.”
You have no idea where it came from; the sale just
landed on your lap. You even brag about it-the sale that is, not the
fact that you don’t deserve it. In the process, you are nudged towards
getting another sale, or deepening that one. You can’t.
You’ve never grown the correct muscle. Soon it is evident you bet. Frustration builds and exit is imminent.
If you’re in doubt about any of the things
mentioned above, remember pyramid schemes. Betting is going down this
very well-trodden path. Don’t bet! Sell.
Mr Kageche is lead facilitator, Lend Me Your Ears; Email:lendmeyourears@consultant.com, www.lendmeyourears.co.ke
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