Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Following Up...right off the cliff

Feel like slaughtering a sacred cow today.

Repeatedly following up with a "prospect" who has never bought a thing from you, 98 times out of 100, is a complete waste of time. That time and energy could have been spent trying to find someone who needs what you have right now or VERY soon. Politely bow out and move on.

The follow-up/tickler system file crowd will tell you how that "builds relationships". They'll tell you some stories about people who EVENTUALLY bought from them after months or even years of "touching base". That's horsepoop. They FINALLY bought from you because you FINALLY had something they needed.

Oh, sure, they might think you're a swell person and complimented you on your diligent "following up". Let me ask you this: What if they thought you were a nice person, admired your tenacity in your following up efforts BUT STILL didn't need what you had. Answer: NO SALE.

Relationships are what happens after business has been transacted. That's when everyone has skin in the game.

I'll end the post with the cow motif I started it with..another one of my favorite little maxims:

Stop trying to teach a pig how to sing. Not only are you wasting your time, you're irritating the hell out of the pig.

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