The STORY:
Melinda did not consider herself lucky in sales. Of course, there were those in the sales meeting who felt otherwise.
“Look,” said Tim, “it has to be luck. The people who come in . . . you’re lucky that most of the ones who come in have already decided to buy. The rest of us just seem to get the ones ‘just looking.’”
“Yeah,” chimed in Jim. “Just yesterday you had that woman who came in. Before you came to work, she was in here every three months, and nobody could sell her anything. She walks in, you walk over and bingo, she’s buying. We’ve softened her up for over a year, and you get the sale. That’s the luck of the draw.”
“So,” said Melinda, “I don’t want to upset you, but are you saying that if you had walked over to her instead, she would have bought?”
“Definitely. It just turned out one more time that it was your turn for the walk-ins. Luck.”
“Do you know,” asked Melinda, “how many people I talk to in a month?” Seeing the other salespeople shaking their heads “no,” she went on, “I talk to an average of 200 prospects a month. How many did you talk to last month, Tim?”
“Let’s see,” said Tim looking at his notes, “about 75.”
“Well,” said Melinda, “do you see what I’m saying?”
The RESULT:
Many salespeople believe that luck is responsible for their success. Being in the right spot at the right time. Having just the color the person wanted. And so on . . . the list of “lucky” situations is endless. But here’s the problem with luck — the top level salespeople never ascribe their success to luck.
DISCUSSION:
What’s “being lucky”? Buying only one lottery ticket in your life and winning the grand prize. Opening the door to a store for someone and then finding out ten years later that that person left you a million dollars because of your one act of kindness.
That’s luck.
When salespeople ascribe their lack of success to someone else being lucky, well, the nice thing to say is that perhaps they aren’t working properly. In the story, Melinda touched, talked to, and worked with 200 prospects a month, Jim only about 75. Melinda had organized her selling time to reach many more prospects and as a result, had more sales. She was not lucky, she had organized her time to make the most of it.
Every salesperson in the world has at least one story of how just by being there or having the right color shirt on, a big sale was made. These are true stories. Perhaps these are the result of luck. However, a salesperson cannot make a living by making one lucky sale. The sooner the salesperson gives up the idea of luck being the reason for consistent sales, the better.
APPROACH:
Sales has nothing to do with luck. Banish this term. Sales has everything to do with the salesperson making a commitment and following through on organizing his time.
Instead of wondering why more people don’t come through the door; do something to get more people to come through it, or go out and find them.
Instead of complaining that you don’t have as large a selection as your competitor, go out and tell someone you only stock quality, not quantity. Don’t ascribe the success of your competitor to his being lucky because he has a larger selection. If that’s truly the only thing holding you back from increased sales, get a job with your competitor.
THOUGHT:
Luck has nothing to do with being a successful professional salesperson.
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