Prospecting Is Like
Football
The
Philadelphia Eagles beat the Dallas Cowboys on Christmas Day. The Eagles are now in first place in the NFC
East Division. This is shocking to Philadelphia fans because four weeks ago, the
quarterback, Donovan McNabb was injured and it seemed like the season was over.
I had another
shock recently. While working with a
sales rep I asked her what her primary objective was for an appointment she had
with a vendor later that afternoon. She
said she wanted the vendor to commit to using her leasing services
exclusively.
While this is
a fine goal, it was a shocking primary objective. She had not yet received one
application. She set the bar way too
high. It’s like she wanted to run a
kickoff all the way back for a touchdown.
Do you know
how often a kickoff is run back for a touchdown in the NFL? About one half of one percent of the time
this season. ( So far, 1134 kickoffs,
six touchdown returns).
Many leasing
reps think in global terms. I suggest
you think of prospecting like football.
On your first
call you are on the twenty yard line, with four tries to get ten yards.
Your primary
objective is to get the first down.
Examples of an
equipment leasing first down:
- Obtaining vendor’s email address
- Finding out who they use for
leasing
- Getting a list of their sales rep’s
names
- Discovering how decisions about
leasing are made
Can’t get a
first down? No problem. You still try to pick up some yards. This is your secondary objective.
Examples of
forward momentum:
- Getting the screener’s name
- Leaving the prospect with a good
feeling about your company
- Leaving a value-added voice mail
message
The rep I was
working with had an appointment. So she
was 1st and 10 on the fifty.
We set her primary objective to get the vendor to commit to using her on
a trial basis on his next five deals.
Change your
strategy from going for a touchdown on each play to be like Jeff Garcia. He is now the Eagles starting
quarterback. He’s methodical and
efficient. He keeps the momentum moving
forward.
Then even if
you lose a big vendor in the middle of the year, you could still come back and
finish on top. Believe you can win. The Eagles did.
We beat Dallas on Christmas Day! For an Eagles fan the next best thing after
beating Dallas is beating the Giants. Guess what? We did that the week before!
Thanks
Santa! You definitely got my letter.