There’s a sales lesson to be learned by how we shop. Before we go shopping, we mentally decide what we are shopping for, about how much money we are willing to pay, and what store is best to go to make our purchase. Let’s say we want to buy a lawnmower. We don’t go to the mall and start going into each store asking if they sell lawn mowers. We know in advance that Dunkin Donuts, Radio Shack, Macy’s and the food court don’t sell lawn mowers. Why waste of our time and have a very low likelihood of finding a lawn mower. Maybe we should use the same wisdom when looking for new business.

When we cold call, we do the equivalent of looking for a lawn mower at Dunkin Donuts and when we don’t find one there, sales managers tell us to just try more places. It’s as if sales people have a recessive gene from snake oil salesman that makes them automatically start each day with, “everyone gather around” assuming everyone is dying to buy what they are selling. Sales trainers encourage this ancient practice with phrases like, “Sales is a numbers game”, as if doing the wrong thing again and again will somehow change the outcome.

People today, have little patience for being contacted cold, and less, for something they don’t want or need. Selling to Zebras is a process that does away with blind cold calling and is in tune with Selling in the Now. Like shopping, it helps you identify where to find your best prospect. Who is that best match for your company and services and has the budget to buy from you? Contacting people who are predisposed and have the money to buy from you makes more sense than wasting your time calling people who are not a good fit. So before you waste your time cold calling ask yourself, “Do I shop this way”?

Author: Rich Lucia
www.RichLucia.com