Slim-Fast and Sales Prospecting

In case you didn’t know, Slim-Fast is a dietary drink that acts as a substitute for meals for people attempting to lose weight. But have you paid attention to the name itself?

Slim-Fast. Slim down fast. We live in a society of instant gratification. We want results fast and quickly and don’t want to wait.

Or the name of the cell phone provider, Sprint. Which means moving quickly.

What’s the best way to lose weight? Exercise more, eat less and healthier, and over the long haul, you’ll lose weight.

Is it healthy to lose a lot of weight in a very short amount of time? Probably not. Wrestlers use this method to get down to weight before a meet so that they aren’t over their weight class. Crash losing weight can have negative consequences for your health.

How often do we look for instant success while sales prospecting? We didn’t do the daily sales activity throughout the year or quarter and all of the sudden the sales pipeline is thin and we haven’t hit our numbers.

So what do we do? We make 100 calls per day for a short period of time trying to drum up prospects and end up crashing. We sound desperate over the phone and prospects notice it as well.

What’s the solution? Discipline yourself daily to make your sales prospecting calls. Slow and steady always wins.

We are in harvesting season: both literally and figuratively.

Here at Connect 5000, I know my personal sales cycle is 4 months. I’ve closed business in less than a week and over a year. The average is 4 months. What my sales pipeline looks like today is a direct reflection of my actions 4 months ago.

I reap what I sow. The laws of farming apply to the law of sales.

Throw in a skittish economy, upcoming election, and hesitant buyers, and sales cycles increase longer.

So although things are tough, do the daily sales calls consistently and build your pipeline in a manageable way. Making 100 calls per day out of urgency is not beneficial to you or your prospects.

I’m Ray Ruecker with Connect 5000 and thank you for helping us shorten sales cycles and multiply revenue for technology and consulting firms nationwide.