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July 12, 2012 ISSN# 1545-2646
Fishing for Sales
In Michigan, lots of vacationers spend their time fishing the Great Lakes for the bounty of various fish the fresh water offers. Some are rewarded with a great catch and others come up with just a few or even none at all. What is interesting is that they continue to drop their hooks in the water trying to catch the fish swimming around the vast open waters.
This is the same as your business, looking for the next sale of your products or services. Your sales reps daily go out into the marketplace casting their lines into the vast sea of prospects. The question is are they casting empty hooks into the right fishing holes or properly baited hooks into the right place to find the big fish?
Sales like fishing is a numbers game. The more baited hooks in the water the greater the possibility to catch a fish. The more prospects in your sales funnel the greater the chance of converting a prospect into a customer.
In sales it is not just about having bait in the water. It is about qualifying the prospect to determine if they have the wherewithal to actually create a profitable transaction with your business. It might sound pretty simple but when working with sales reps and reviewing their sales funnel/pipeline, why is it such a challenge for reps to confirm the basics of qualification of a prospect.
- Does the prospect have a specific need for the product or service you are selling?
- Does the prospect have the authority buying decision capability to actually purchase something?
- Does the prospect have the financing to purchase the goods/services?
- Does the prospect have an impending event timeline that is causing the need to purchase?
If the answer to any of the questions is not specifically defined and verified then your sales rep does not have a prospect and is potentially fishing with an empty hook.
This week, take some time to review your sales reps pipeline and do some hard qualification of the prospects in the funnel. It is the pipeline and funnel which determine the cash flow in the future. If the sales funnel is based on unqualified potential then your cash flow will be questionable. It is better to hard qualify through the entire sales cycle than become complacent and have to deal with financial issues down the road.
Interested in having a third party review your sales pipeline? Give JKL Associates a call at (313) 527-7945
Questions or comments – email us at partners@jklassociates.com or call our Office at (313) 527-7945
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