Location, Location, Location

It' an expression we've all heard before, Real Estate is all about Location, Location, Location. But that same bit of wisdom can be applied to sales as well.

The other day I spoke with a salesperson who was making cold calls (good for her) and she was frustrate because her efforts yielded very little results. After hearing her results, I told her that, for cold calls, she was actually doing very well. The problem was her expectation for cold calls was too high. I'm all for going into cold calls, or anything else, with the idea that you're going to shoot for the Moon. But the reality is that cold calls are probably the least productive of all prospecting techniques in terms of time invested.

I'm not saying that we should stop making cold calls, just the opposite. The point is know your "Location" in the sales process. Cold Calls are something you work into your day, get good at executing, and consistently keep doing. Eventually you will reach a dicision maker that you would not have reached otherwise and they will need your product/service and agree to see you. Your location in the sales process is so far at the beginning that you have a very long way to go.

A referral starts a little bit farther down the sales process. A repeat customer is certainly closer to the end of the process than the beginning. Networking can start you off in a variety of different place along the sales cycle. Marketing can bring in warm leads, or totally miss the mark. It's up to you to realize where you are in the sales process. For a customer who may stay with you for years and bring in a huge revenue stream, realize that you have to put in the time and effort upfront, then reap the rewards. Just like a Farmer in the Spring, he doesn't get frustrated when he looks at a bare field. He knows where he is in the farming process and gets to work. He knows his "location" in the farming process. Do the same with your sales process, keep planting those seeds, know your location, and you'll soon have a large "sale" to harvest.