Due to a motorcycle accident, I\u2019m currently laid up with a fractured kneecap.\u00a0 I\u2019m still getting a lot of work done, but one of my key concerns is muscle atrophy.\u00a0 Any time you\u2019re off your feet, it\u2019s easy to let your muscles stiffen and\/or lose their strength.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been doing a lot of research into exercise and working out, and I\u2019ve been working out pretty much everything on my body that isn\u2019t connected to my right knee so that my body doesn\u2019t atrophy and my rehab becomes tougher.<\/p>\n
When I was working out yesterday, I started thinking about how selling is a lot like working out (or simply living).\u00a0 We have certain skills that we use \u2013 think of them as \u201cmuscles\u201d \u2013 and when we don\u2019t use them, they can atrophy.\u00a0 The sales muscle that, I think, is most susceptible to atrophy is the Prospecting muscle.\u00a0 Let\u2019s talk about how it can atrophy and how we can keep it active.<\/p>\n
Prospecting presents a dilemma for salespeople.\u00a0 On one hand, salespeople typically view prospecting with a mix of feelings involving fear, dislike, and sometimes out right loathing.\u00a0 Few salespeople will say that they like to prospect, and fewer still really do. Yet, prospecting may be the most valuable skill you possess, in terms of your value to your employer and in terms of your compensation.<\/p>\n
What I mean by \u201cvalue\u201d is this:\u00a0 In most cases, the most highly compensated salespeople are those salespeople who can consistently and reliably grow their businesses through the acquisition of new, profitable customers.<\/strong>\u00a0 Hence, if you want to rise to the top of the selling profession, Prospecting is a \u201cmuscle\u201d that you must possess \u2013 and exercise often.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also the most easily atrophied muscle.\u00a0 Remember–most salespeople dislike prospecting.\u00a0 If there\u2019s a way to avoid or postpone prospecting, salespeople will take it (much like many people will postpone exercise that they dislike).\u00a0 It\u2019s a human tendency.\u00a0 And, in my experience, prospecting postponed is prospecting not done, and the longer that you avoid doing something, the less skilled that you become at it.\u00a0 That\u2019s what I mean by \u201catrophying the muscle.\u201d<\/p>\n Any fitness trainer will tell you that it\u2019s much easier to stay in shape than to get in shape.\u00a0 That\u2019s true with prospecting as well.\u00a0 In my career, the toughest assignments I\u2019ve had have been to take a salesperson who has fallen out of the habit of prospecting and get them back into that habit.\u00a0 It\u2019s much easier to stay in \u201cshape\u201d to prospect than to \u201cget in shape\u201d to prospect.<\/p>\n The good news is that it\u2019s not that tough to stay in shape.\u00a0 It\u2019s a matter of discipline.\u00a0 Much like working out must be a part of your physical routine to succeed, prospecting must be a part of your selling routine to be successful.\u00a0 Here are five ways to stay in \u201cshape\u201d for prospecting:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Much like staying in shape, it\u2019s a lot easier to keep<\/strong> the skill\/muscle of Prospecting active and vital than it is to restart<\/strong> prospecting.\u00a0 Follow those tips, and you\u2019ll never have that muscle atrophy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Due to a motorcycle accident, I\u2019m currently laid up with a fractured kneecap.\u00a0 I\u2019m still getting a lot of work done, but one of my key concerns is muscle atrophy.\u00a0 Any time you\u2019re off your feet, it\u2019s easy to let your muscles stiffen and\/or lose their strength.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been doing a lot of research into exercise and working out, and I\u2019ve been working out pretty much everything on my body that isn\u2019t connected to my right knee so that my body doesn\u2019t atrophy and my rehab becomes tougher. When I was working out yesterday, I started thinking about how selling is a lot like working out (or simply living).\u00a0 We have certain skills that we use \u2013 think of them as \u201cmuscles\u201d \u2013 and when we don\u2019t use them, they can atrophy.\u00a0 The sales muscle that, I think, is most susceptible to atrophy is the Prospecting muscle.\u00a0 Let\u2019s talk about how it can atrophy and how we can keep it active. Prospecting presents a dilemma for salespeople.\u00a0 On one hand, salespeople typically view prospecting with a mix of feelings involving fear, dislike, and sometimes out right loathing.\u00a0 Few salespeople will say that they like to prospect, and fewer still really do. Yet, prospecting may be the most valuable skill you possess, in terms of your value to your employer and in terms of your compensation. What I mean by \u201cvalue\u201d is this:\u00a0 In most cases, the most highly compensated salespeople are those salespeople who can consistently and reliably grow their businesses through the acquisition of new, profitable customers.\u00a0 Hence, if you want to rise to the top of the selling profession, Prospecting is a \u201cmuscle\u201d that you must possess \u2013 and exercise often. It\u2019s also the most easily atrophied muscle.\u00a0 Remember–most salespeople dislike prospecting.\u00a0 If there\u2019s a way to avoid or postpone prospecting, salespeople will take it (much like many people will postpone exercise that they dislike).\u00a0 It\u2019s a human tendency.\u00a0 And, in my experience, prospecting postponed is prospecting not done, and the longer that you avoid doing something, the less skilled that you become at it.\u00a0 That\u2019s what I mean by \u201catrophying the muscle.\u201d Any fitness trainer will tell you that it\u2019s much easier to stay in shape than to get in shape.\u00a0 That\u2019s true with prospecting as well.\u00a0 In my career, the toughest assignments I\u2019ve had have been to take a salesperson who has fallen out of the habit of prospecting and get them back into that habit.\u00a0 It\u2019s much easier to stay in \u201cshape\u201d to prospect than to \u201cget in shape\u201d to prospect. The good news is that it\u2019s not that tough to stay in shape.\u00a0 It\u2019s a matter of discipline.\u00a0 Much like working out must be a part of your physical routine to succeed, prospecting must be a part of your selling routine to be successful.\u00a0 Here are five ways to stay in \u201cshape\u201d for prospecting: Make it a routine. Successful prospectors establish a week-to-week routine of prospecting.\u00a0 In other words, instead of saying, \u201cI\u2019m going to set my appointments for the week, then I\u2019ll find time to prospect in between,\u201d they establish a routine that says, \u201cMy prospecting times are Monday morning from 10 AM to Noon (incidentally, that\u2019s a great time to prospect), Wednesday morning, etc.\u201d\u00a0 Then prospecting isn\u2019t a decision process; it\u2019s just something you do. Establish targets. To succeed, it\u2019s important to have objectives other than time.\u00a0 How many new appointments do you need per week?\u00a0 How many calls does it take to succeed in getting those appointments?\u00a0 How many hours do you need to make those calls?\u00a0 Build your prospecting time around your weekly targets. Use a Quality Database. Calling out of the phone book is dead.\u00a0 It\u2019s been dead for 30 years.\u00a0 There are too many quality databases that allow you to make good phone calls, asking for the actual name of a top manager, to do the \u201cperson who\u201d call (e.g. \u201cHi, could I speak to the person who purchases\u2026.\u201d). Don\u2019t substitute \u201cresearch\u201d for real prospecting activity. Salespeople like to fool themselves that they are \u2018prospecting\u2019 when in fact, they are surfing the Net.\u00a0 Extensive pre-call research does not win you new business.\u00a0 In fact, in most instances, you actually lose effectiveness in prospecting by doing extensive pre-call research over simply making the calls.\u00a0 The reason is that somewhere around 2\/3 of the calls you make will result in a voice mail or a no-contact; all the research in the world won\u2019t help you succeed on these calls.\u00a0 Meanwhile, on the calls where you do get a contact, the research is only of marginal help. Social Networking isn\u2019t prospecting. I know, I know; there are many snake-oil salespeople now that will tell you that social networking is all you need to do.\u00a0 Nonsense.\u00a0 There is a place for social networking, but it is not now, nor will it be in the foreseeable future, a mechanism to consistently and reliably bring in new prospects to your business.\u00a0 Social networking should be considered a secondary activity, prioritized below prospecting, and you should spend at least 3 times as much time prospecting as you do on social networking. Much like staying in shape, it\u2019s a lot easier to keep the skill\/muscle of Prospecting active and vital than it is to restart prospecting.\u00a0 Follow those tips, and you\u2019ll never have that muscle atrophy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1649,1814,1866],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9179"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9179"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9182,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9179\/revisions\/9182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n