Haven't we all seen the salesperson whose funnel is always chuck full of opportunities? And to make it even more aggravating those ops seem to move down the funnel faster than anyone elses. I can hear the phone ringing now at this rep's desk. "Bob, this is Jim Thorne over at Gizmo Products. Yeah, I'm doing great. Say, we need to see you and fast. I saw the article you wrote in Gadgetry Times and we have the same issues here. We are ready to move forward on that piece of equipment we discussed earlier this year."
Of course I'm kidding when I use the word aggravating to describe how fast this rep closes business. It is tempting to use the word luck to describe someone who has more opportunities than they can deal with. But we know different. A wise person once said that "luck is the residue of design" and how right they were.
There is no such thing as luck in sales. Good salespeople cause luck to happen by executing activities that eventually bring opportunities to their doorstep. A client of mine who sells into the dental insurance world carries a 6 foot toothbrush around with him at conferences where he speaks. Sales always seem to spike after these conferences. A salesperson I knew years ago helped the son of a physician in the rep's territory get a job. At the time the physician didn't buy any product from the rep. Mysteriously, about 4 months after this episode the physician started buying product.
The simple question to ask is-what activities can I do that will have an impact on my customers? My rule of thumb is that any time a person does more than what's expected of them good things happen as a result. Think outside the proverbial box to come up with "impact activities".
The Final Thought: "The way our luck has been lately, our fellas have been getting hurt on their days off." Casey Stengel