Sales Warrior Lesson 48
Minimizing Risks
Again, speed is the essence of successful selling. This
verse brings together many of the ideas we have covered already.
When you move quickly:
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You limit your investment so you are not pressured to
close any specific sale, letting the process work for you.
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You become forward looking, focused on the opportunity
ahead of you and what you need to do next.
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You maintain your initiative in sales, eliminating slack
from the process so that success leads to success.
Avoid pressure during the sale while eliminating sales
slack. It is this balance that limits your risks of something going wrong.
What happens when a sales process drags on? The more time
external events have to undermine it. The more likely it becomes that other
priorities will arise demanding the customer's time, attention, and money.
Meanwhile, the costs to you mount. You cannot spend time with other prospects.
Any eventual payback grows more distant. It isn't just the costs of your time,
but the opportunity costs. While you are putting your effort into one sale,
there are other sales that you cannot work on. Any eventual payback from the
sale grows more distant and uncertain. This affects the attitude of the
salesperson. We see again and again how salespeople are the most optimistic
at the beginning of the sales cycle, but grow more pessimistic over time.
Pessimism kills sales.
