The One Percent Rule
This concept became the foundation for my "One Percent Rule." One of every 100 prospects buys and 99 of 100 don't. With this thought in mind I began a quest to look for the one person who had a problem and wanted me to help him solve it.
It also solved another problem that I - and all salespeople - live with: The fear of rejection.
If you know that 99 of 100 won't be buying, than you're no longer experiencing rejection. It's confirmation.
With that in mind, my goal and focus changed.
1.Come up with a list of 100 names.
2.Work the list.
3.Use the phone to talk with as many prospects as you can.
4.Find the one person who would buy.
5.Come up with another list of names.
What I discovered was that the results are much better than one percent, assuming you've got great phone skills. If, on the other hand, your phone skills aren't up to snuff it's real easy to go through a months worth of leads in just a couple of days.
And if people are saying, "Thanks for calling. We don't need any." or "We're all taken care of." you're getting shut out before you even get started.
That takes me to my second reader's comments:
"Today's "low-level employee" might be tomorrow's manager and decision-maker! So I don't think you can afford to discriminate against ANYONE, now can you??"
My definition of a prospect is someone who has a problem and wants to do something about it... TODAY.
I think it's a waste of time to be making presentations to gatekeepers and low-level employees. If you're not speaking with decision makers you're wasting everybody's time. Especially your own.
Yes, maybe these people will become decision makers - or business owners - at some future time, but they aren't today.
And aren't you much better off if you can use the phone to better qualify your prospects so when you meet with them there's a better than 50-50 probability that they're going to do business with you?
Spend your time looking for prospects that
· Have a problem.
· Want to solve it, and
· Have the authority to make a decision.
And you'll have a great business.
