Ask the Sales Doctor - Total Selling Systems

Warren Wechsler's
Ask the Sales Doctor

A Brand New Idea

Warren Wechsler, bestselling author and national sales and motivational speaker, provides many valuable resources free of charge to sales trainers and sales managers. Some restrictions apply to the use and distribution of this information. For more valuable materials, visit Warren's web site www.totalselling.com. All materials and content © Warren Wechsler, 2001 – All rights reserved.

Debbie writes:

How do you start with a brand new idea in a brand new company to a brand new audience? I have a great opportunity I’m really excited about, yet it’s outside my previous background and contacts. What are my chances for success?

Warren answers:

Well, Debbie, I think if you look at your question, some of the answers will become evident. You're starting with a brand new idea in a brand new company to a brand new audience. I would call that the triple whammy, and I don't mean that in a positive sense. Don't take that wrong. I don't mean it's a negative for your company. What I mean is you're in what's called, in my prospecting matrix, quadrant four. Quadrant four is introducing a new product or service to a new potential person.

Now let's look at this. People buy from people whom they like and trust. So if people have bought from you before, they like you, they trust you, they know the product. You're starting with a brand new person, so you have to build that rapport, build that trust. You have a brand new product and a brand new company. There are only very few people who are willing to be the innovators, and take those huge risks associated with buying a brand new idea from a brand new person with a brand new company.

Am I saying that your chance of success is slim? No, I'm not saying that. I see you say that you can't use your previous background and contacts, so you have to start over with brand new people. You are what's called a trailblazer or a pioneer. That's what I call the fourth quadrant. The reason I call that the trailblazing quadrant is to make people think about what happened to the great settlers as they charged across the country from east to west to settle this great country of ours. What happened to many of those trailblazers? I know you can't answer. I'll answer for you. They got slaughtered. They died of scurvy and dysentery. They basically never made it to the West Coast. That's the image that you have to have in your mind about what it's like to be a trailblazer in quadrant four when you have a new product and a new company you're trying to sell to new people. Prepare for the maximum amount of rejection. What I'm saying is up to ninety percent of the people you contact are going to say, "No thank you. Not interested. Once you get a track record call me back." You're going to hear every excuse you've ever imagined, and you're going to hear a lot of excuses you've never imagined.

Again, does this mean you're going to fail? The answer is no. Why do I say that? For a number of reasons. The first is I can tell from your email that you absolutely believe in yourself. And that is the key. You have to absolutely have an unshakeable belief that even if ninety out of a hundred people say no, it's only because they don't know enough, or they don't know enough yet. It's not "no, never", it's just "not yet" or "maybe". You have to be neutral as to the outcome of every approach you make, Debbie. That means if you make ten approaches, and the first ten people that day say no, you have to still be enthusiastic and believe in yourself because on the eleventh call you might just get someone to say, "Yes, I'll take a look at it."

You can only show the opportunity and ask people if they're interested. You cannot control the outcome. So take away all the energy about the "no, no thank you", "no, not yet", "no, not ever" and recognize that you are the person who can be neutral as to the outcome and simply wait for the positive responses to come your way.

Here's another idea. Turn it into a game. Keep track of your statistics and see if you can beat the odds. What do I mean by that? If you're calling in your area with a new product, a new company, and a brand new audience, you're going to have to make a hundred - now check this out - you're going to have to make a hundred contacts to get ten people who are interested. You're going to have to talk to a hundred people to find ten people who are interested. Again, that's that ninety percent rejection. If you reach those ten people who are interested, three of those people will be so interested that you can take the next step, which is send information, get the appointment, set a follow-up time, whatever. They're that interested, they're ready to go, they're in the sales funnel. And of those three, one of them will do business in a short amount of time.

What am I saying? If you need five people that you're going to sell this product and service to, be prepared to make five hundred contacts, which would take you several weeks. What I'm saying is keep your own stats. Maybe you can beat the odds. Maybe instead of ten out of a hundred interested, you could move that up to twenty. Well, you've just doubled your chance of success because if you contact twenty people you're going to get six who are seriously interested, and two of them are going to become clients. That's how you make that successful

And finally, Debbie, I'll tell you something that I closed the show two weeks ago with. That is we have to practice persistence in sales. We have to remember what Winston Churchill said, "Never give up. Never, never, never, never, never."

If you apply these three things I've talked about, Debbie, I will guarantee - that's the second time I've said guarantee today - I will strongly suggest that you will be successful if you do those three things. Believe in yourself. Don't worry about the rejection. Keep the stats; turn it into a game. And finally, don't give up. That was actually four things. Thanks a lot for the question, Debbie.

This was a partial transcript from Warren Wechsler's weekly radio show. Warren Wechsler, bestselling author and national sales and motivational speaker, provides many valuable resources free of charge to sales trainers and sales managers. Visit Warren's web site www.totalselling.com Also, listen to Warren's weekly radio broadcast Wednesday's at 4:05 - 5:00 pm Central time, on KMCD-AM 1570AM. Shows are broadcast live on the internet at http://www.warpradio.com/asx/KMCD-AM.asx