I want to talk about a little sales strategy here and it's something that over the 30 plus years that I've been in this business, is one of the things that sort of annoys me more than anything else that I hear business development people doing out there. They do what I call "drive-by disqualify". They decide that it's not worth it to make that call, to pull into that driveway, to knock on the door, to go ask someone to have a business conversation.
So, instead of letting the prospect tell you, "No, I'm not interested", a lot of business development people just decide "that company or that person will never buy what we're selling, so there's no need for me to get there". Now, I know that in some cases, it's not going to happen. In fact, I'll admit, in a lot of cases, it's not going to happen. But what I wanted mid is that it's a good strategy, not to prove it to yourself before you live with that result.
The worst thing that can happen if you go knock on one of those doors, is find out you were right. They won't buy from me, there was no business to do here, no real opportunity. But you'll never know that for sure without asking those people, "Hey, does it make sense for us to even have a business conversation? Or should I just leave you alone?" The best thing that could happen is someone will actually say, "Well, I don't know, why don't you come in and talk to me? What are you trying to do? How could you help my business? Where do you think we might be able to work together?"
If you're willing to pass up all those opportunities without asking people, you're probably nowhere near as successful and productive as you could be as a business development professional. So don't make a decision for someone you haven't asked to make it on their own. Go in and knock on their door, use the right tactics. "Look, I know you haven't asked for this call. I have no idea if we can do business. I was just wondering if I could spend three minutes of time with you to decide if it made sense to continue the conversation at a date when we can both be fully committed to it". Get out of the business of drive-by disqualification and make an appropriately professional business conversation happen with someone who may appreciate your willingness to offer them your services and products to make a better reality in their business than they're currently dealing with. So, if you know it, prove it, and if you prove it, live with that result, and I'll be as happy about it as you are.
Thanks again for the time and attention. I wish you a ton of luck in your sales and business development efforts. Go out there and have a great day and a great weekend. Go make money
