TouchPoint Selling

Jan 27 2009 8:19AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |
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By Rick Heaston

I was at the Air Force Academy this weekend for a track meet with my daughter and noticed some T-Shirts that made me wonder. Here’s what they said:

Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.

How true can a statement be? And doesn’t the same thing apply to sales associates in our industry? It doesn’t matter that it’s a down market and everything seems like it’s falling apart … hard work will beat talent when talent doesn’t work hard. Here’s what I mean.

I notice a certain number of sales people “giving up”. And by that I mean listening to all of the “buzz” that seems to be coming from the media. And by doing that, they’re missing opportunities. Things like model demonstrations, visiting homesites, touring field models and follow up. It’s almost like they’re falling for the old, “What’s the use?” excuse.

Today, more than ever before, hard work matters. And even more than that, the right sales process matters. I’m hearing “back to the basics” … “back to the basics” as the new cure for all problems. But that’s the same “chant” I heard when the market was good.

Aren’t “the basics” just table stakes to be in the game? And if the market has changed … customers have changed … and today’s business realities have changed … why shouldn’t we be changing too? The answer is that we should.

There are two things that work in today’s market. Hard work and a sales process that works. Both address our changing world.

PS: More on the sales process later this week.