It was a lazy Sunday. The family went to the store, saw a movie, then grabbed some bar-b-que. About an hour before bedtime my eight-year-old son announced he had a big homework project due the next day. My wife went a little nuts. To me it was just more evidence that kid will end up in sales. He avoids homework like salespeople avoid prospecting.
2nd graders would rather eat spinach than do homework. And doesn't that follow kids all through school and into adulthood? What's the problem? It has to be done or the kid gets a bad grade. So why fight it? Maybe because they must do it, that's why.
Salespeople? Not much different than second graders, except prospecting is their homework. They will do anything or make any excuse to avoid it, even though sales won't happen without some sort of prospecting. Coffee, emails, check the weather, chat with friends what ever it takes salespeople will avoid the unavoidable.
Just like prospects hate to be pressured, salespeople hate to be reminded that they should still be prospecting for new business while nurturing the good prospects they have. And you know, when you bug a prospect they get all the more reticent like a kid reminded to do homework. The good news is the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle solves all that for you.
Who's Heisenberg? He's was a scientist that figured out that simply observing something will influence the results--on a sub-atomic level. And he came up with that in 1927! WOW! If you really want the gory details, you can read all about it right here.
That said, what works on the sub-atomic level works in prospecting or homework for that matter. What get's measured gets done. If you were thinking we should have kept better tabs on our son's homework, you're right. Salespeople should also keep track of how much prospecting they do, set a goal and stick to it.
And while I hate over-involved sales managers, this is one instance where they absolutely should observe. Just that simple act, observing, will do more than any threat, cajoling or badgering. "Let me see" can influence the results of sub-atomic particles. It can sure as hell influence prospecting and cold calling.
Heisenberg was no mere quantum physics genius. He was a sales genius.
Quantum physics is for closers!
Posted by: Dave McMinn | 08/19/2010 at 10:16 AM