Selling in a Crisis

15Become a Relentless, Fanatical Prospector

Before the crisis struck, people called you. Leads poured in. Opportunity was abundant. So much so that your pipeline was almost on autopilot.

Those days are over. Nobody is going to call you now. If you want to talk with people, you've got to interrupt them. You want to protect your income and career, then you must become a relentless, unstoppable, fanatical prospector who is obsessive about keeping your pipeline full of qualified prospects.

Don't wait until your pipeline is empty and you are desperate to make a sale or save your job. Begin now!

In a crisis, prospecting must become the air you breathe. Don't whine like a baby about not having enough leads, or cry at the coffee machine with all of the losers about how no one is buying today. Get moving, take responsibility, and generate your own leads and your own luck.

The brutal truth is, the number-one reason for failure in sales (in any economy) is an empty pipeline, and the root cause of an empty pipeline is the failure to consistently prospect every single day.

Prospect day and night, anywhere and anytime. Always be on the hunt for your next sale. Carry around a pocketful of business cards. Strike up conversations with strangers in line to get coffee, in elevators, on planes, trains, and anywhere else you can talk with people and qualify potential prospects. Ask people where they work, what they do, and who makes decisions at their company.

Get up in the morning and bang the ...