Supremely Successful Selling: Discovering the Magic Ingredient

Chapter 23

Have Only Two Dials on Your Console—Fast and Faster

MAKING THE SALE is often a long process. But most important, you must begin. The only thing guaranteed to stop you from making a sale—is simply not getting started.

I'm reminded that every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows that it must run faster than a lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.

It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle—when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.

So you must begin. There are many steps along the way. But in order to make the sale, there are four milestones that play the most significant part. Four steps you must take. I'll give you those in a moment.

It's important you keep the pipeline filled. There can be no let up. You need to have a pool of people you are calling on—new contacts and those you have called on who need following up on.

Let me tell you about Ret Thompson. He sells for Thomas James Custom Clothes. There are 400 regular customers he calls on in his territory in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Just in case you are wondering if the days of house-to-house selling are over—there are more than 500 men and women all over the country just like Ret who represent Thomas James. They call on men and women at their offices and homes to outfit them in custom-made suits, slacks, and shirts.

(In case you're curious if a person can make a good living by making these house calls, ...