YOU'VE invested hours in sales-training classes, read all the recommended sales books, attended networking events and gathered daily sales tips via the Internet. But you're still in the same rut. Your closing ratios haven't changed, nor, despite your best intentions, have your appointments. You know you need and want to make a change, and you seem to be doing the right things, but it just isn't happening. Why?
In a word, fear. Fear of trying something new and looking foolish. Fear that if you blow an appointment, you will miss the sale–and you worked hard to get that appointment! So you retreat to what is comfortable for you. You do what you always have done before.
Like the Cowardly Lion, what you need is courage. Where do you find it? In a full pipeline of prospects and suspects. When appointments are scarce, we dare not "blow" one. So the key to making necessary change is to fill the pipeline.
Imagine it is your first day of work at a new agency, and you have zero prospects and suspects. Here are some places to get them:
1) Newspapers: In daily newspapers and local business journals, there is a constant flow of information about businesses that really need you. Here are the sort of announcements and stories to look for: a plant expansion; the purchase of a piece of undeveloped land for a new office building; an acquisition; the impending arrival of a new company to your area; a profile of a successful business owner; or (my personal favorite) the naming of a company's new CFO, president or owner. These companies need to hear from you. Also, newspapers and business journals often publish lists of leading players of various industries–the 50 largest property management companies, the top 50 res-taurants, the 50 largest publicly owned companies, etc.
2) Business organizations: Many agents belong to insurance associations and organizations, and attend their meetings and events. These are terrific places to sharpen your sales skills and obtain knowledge, but let's face it: Unless they are lost, prospects are not going to be at these gatherings. So get involved with groups in which your prospects hold membership: local retail trade associations, professional organizations for management consultants, CPA chapters, trade associations for industries in which you specialize, etc. But don't just attend the meetings. Tell their speakers committees that you'd like to speak on a pertinent risk-management topic. These groups always need quality speakers, and their attendee and membership lists are full of your prospects.
3) Registers: There are many registers that can help you prospect. One of my favorites is the Manufacturers Register. You can buy one for your state. It will list manufacturers alphabetically, by city, and include the workforce size, sales volume, key-executive contact information, SIC codes and parent companies. There are other such registers for other industries.
4) Trade shows and conventions: Whenever there is a convention nearby for an industry in which you are interested, go to the sessions. You will have a seat that has a prospect on your right, one on your left, one in front of you, and one behind you. Also, go to the convention's trade show. Your prospects set up booths that are full of salespeople paid to tell everyone who stops by all about their companies. They brag about their size, locations, products and leadership. With a little prodding, they will tell you about their companies' problems too. After all, salespeople do love to talk. You go listen.
5) Driving around: When we drive to an appointment, we put on our music or our sales training tapes and CDs, and we "zone" out. We are glad to get out of the office, and now we are thinking of arriving at the appointment and making some money. (After all, we do not make money when we are sitting in the office, unless we are on the phone getting appointments.) But as you drive, pay attention to the prospects all around you. When I first came into the industry, my mentor said, "Count people and cars; that is where the premium is." Notice businesses that have full parking lots, nice new buildings. Notice the service truck that drives by you with "Unit 49″ painted on its side. Does that mean there are at least 48 others on the road? Write down the names of all these companies. They deserve a call from you.
The bottom line is that you are not going to change anything about the way you sell until you have the courage to do so. The courage comes from having a full pipeline.
One final tip: When you are on an appointment that is not going anywhere, don't be in a hurry to leave. You already have taken the time to drive to the appointment and talk with someone. Don't waste all that time. This is a chance to practice asking that one question that all the sales books say you should ask, although you haven't. Now you have nothing to lose and an opportunity to make a change. So go ahead–ask for a referral or two. Who knows? That bold move may open a door.
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