Dealing with Prospecting Procrastination
I seem to default to putting off until tomorrow, what I need to do today Ronan. I get busy, or distracted, or sometimes just lack the desire to do the hard stuff.
What’s the “hard stuff”?
For me, it’s prospecting. I hate it if I’m honest.
And what do you think is behind that?
What? That I hate prospecting? I’m not good at it. It hasn’t worked well for me in the past.
And what hasn’t worked for you?
I have been sending emails and making cold calls.
How many?
Hundreds.
Really?
Well ok, not hundreds. But they didn’t work for me anyway. I get no responses to my emails. And I couldn’t get through to people on the phone.
What were you expecting?
Well, at least some level of response.
Specifically, what level of response?
I don’t know what you mean, Ronan?
Well if you are using email as your tool of choice. A good result might be a 2% response rate. If you are calling you might only get through to 20% of your targets. And from that 20%, you might only get 4 expressions of interest. And I am assuming that you are working with a highly targeted and researched list in the first place. Are you expecting too much?
But those levels of response are ridiculously low, Ronan. Are you serious?
They vary, but I’m still interested in understanding what your expectations were?
I guess, I expected at least 20% of my emails to get a response. And I did expect to be talking to a lot more than 20 out of 100 people.
So, you may have unrealistic expectations of success levels? And how does it feel when you fall so short of your expectations?
Now, Ronan, that is a leading question. You always say to avoid leading questions.
Go on, humour me. And point noted.
I always feel dejected.
Because it is boring, or because it feels demeaning, or maybe it is because you don’t have realistic expectations? Do you have a structured approach to each tactic? For example, do you have a well-scripted approach for your calls?
I wouldn’t describe it as boring. It is intimidating. I’ve never really used a scripted approach.
So, fear plays a major part in your procrastination?
Yes, big time. I find it hard to get the level of motivation I need to get going.
Ok, well you have already taken a significant step forward. By admitting you have a fear. And that you may have unrealistic expectations for both sales tactics.
Here is what I have learned. Sales is more about “perceived loss” that actual gain. You lose more than you win. That is just a fact. We are in the business of failing. But, and here is the point. You get to choose to see it as the business of failing, or the business of winning. Your mindset is the critical factor here. In our game. The game of selling. You have to find a way to deal with a lot of failures.
Now I don’t want to sound superficial here. I have been doing this for 30-years. And I hate losing. I always will. I have just learned to take it in my stride. I have failed so many times. Eventually, you become immune to them. You never learn to love them. Anybody who tells you that is talking BS.
So, what can I do?
Well, first. You need to decide if this is your passion. If you don’t love what you do, it will be virtually impossible to achieve your sales goals.
That’s not an issue. I love this company. The product. And I feel I am making a difference.
Great, next you need to change your level of expectation. Now I don’t mean your level of ambition. Or the size of your vision. I mean that you need to benchmark yourself against the real world. In the real world, sales is tough and getting harder. So, you need to accept that up to 90% of your efforts may result in little reward. But, you MUST focus on the rewards.
Focus on your progress. NOT the task. So, if you send 100 emails and get two responses. Celebrate the outcome. Focus on your wins.
When you make the 100 calls. Focus on the outcome. Getting 4 expressions of interest is a great result. Imagine getting 4 expressions of interest every week for 40 weeks this year. It is 160 expressions of interest, more than last year. Deep down you know that 20% of those could progress to sales opportunities. Another great result.
Ok, Ronan, that sounds great, but how to get started?
Simple. Start every morning with prospecting. It is when you are at your most energetic. It happens to be a great time to prospect anyway. And it means that by 11 AM most mornings you will have made real progress.
Ok, I’m going to get started on this tomorrow.
Great, when we talk next, we will look at your results. And I also want to talk about the importance of committing to this daily routine for life. You see I think too often we give things a try. “I’ll try this out for the next week and see how it goes”. I’ll give it a try for 30-days and see. But, if you look our mindset. We are already subconsciously allowing ourselves to give up. You can’t afford to do that.
And I want you to go easy on yourself, Ok?
What do you mean?
Well, I don’t want you beating yourself up if you miss a morning. You are allowed at least 5 passes. It takes a long time to build a new habit. We can talk about it too when we meet next.
Great, talk then.
If you like this, PLEASE SHARE. And I would love your feedback.
Regards Ronan
Call me on +353(86) 7732201
Ronan Kilroy | Insthinktive Sales Leadership Ltd. | Blanchardstown, | Dublin 15, | Office 01 8220523
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