Though it may be rare, sometimes a big sale will fall right into your lap. If it is handled properly, you can capitalize on the opportunity to bring about a successful sale.
In some cases, albeit rare, a large sales opportunity will fall into the lap of an unsuspecting business or salesperson. If it is handled properly, the business or salesperson can capitalize on the opportunity to bring about sales success.
One question: How often do large sales opportunities come knocking? The odds are about the same as finding a $100 dollar bill on the floor of a Las Vegas casino.
Don’t get me wrong, the business and salesperson in question are trying hard to optimize their chances of a surprise sale. They have dedicated much energy towards preparing their “door” upon which the surprise opportunity will knock. At first glance, the efforts to make their “door” most attractive seems commendable. They put signs on their door saying they are “open” and ready for business. They might even send out flyers and newspaper ads trumpeting that their door is the best one for knocking. In fact, they will hire dedicated personnel in their business to build an electronic door, which one might think, is even more accessible for knocking. Everything is ready, the door, with its flashy signs, bright colors, arrows and easy access is ready and waiting for opportunity to knock.
Now they wait… and wait some more. The door is ready… What happens when no comes knocking?
This is when business owners and salespeople throw their hands up in the air and say “…. we’ve tried everything! We sent out notes telling everyone that our door is ready, we repainted the door, we digitized our door, we even put a softer material right where someone might knock to ensure that their knock is most comfortable…”. And yet… still no knock is heard.
There are different ways to get your door in front of a “knocking opportunity”. Some are more effective than others, yet many business owners and salespeople choose the “Hope & Wait” strategy while ignoring a more effective proven approach. They ignore this proven approach because it is more challenging and maybe, because they themselves do not know how to do it. In fact, many have convinced themselves that there is no other viable option in today’s marketplace. They might tell you that the traditional ways used to work but they don’t work anymore and that nobody does it that way anymore. If you listen hard enough to this rhetoric, in the background you can hear the crumbling of our local business communities.
We should never steer away from something that is right just because it is hard.
When opportunity doesn’t knock, go knocking! What a novel approach. Instead of trying to persuade or cajole the opportunity to come to you (see advertising, web presence, search engine optimization, social media) go out and create the opportunity yourself!
People who say cold-calling is dead are sadly mistaken. It is like saying networking is dead. Or even crazier, communication is dead.
The only way to create a business relationship, beyond the commodity sale, is to get face-to-face and interact the ol’fashioned human way, by having a conversation. This is where business deals are made and where cheques exchange hands. You may have a 1000 “likes” but those likes rarely translate into dollar signs.
So the big question for today’s business owner and salesperson is… how do I make a successful cold call? That is where Killing Herb Inc. enters the picture. With thousands of successful cold calls logged, you can follow a simple, proven process for initiating a conversation with your most sought-after prospects. Not only do we explain what to do, we also show you how to do it. In our “Prospectors’ Handbook” program we first study the art of the cold-call, then we do it! By the end of the Killing Herb Inc. program each participant has successfully completed several cold-calls, handled objections, booked a meeting and moved on to initial meeting preparation.
Let the other reactive business owners and salespeople patiently wait behind their doors for a knock that may never happen! It is time to get knocking!