Exploding the “numbers game” myth

The “numbers game” myth decreases your chance of success.  It makes selling more complicated and harder than necessary. Selling is not a numbers game: It’s a performance game.  The “numbers game” myth is used by those who believe in luck and chance to close sales. Sales are generated through skill and technique.

Here’s how some sales people are currently choosing to play the outdated version of the numbers game:

Monday, reach out and call 100 unqualified prospects, utilize an outdated approach that turns people off, use phrases that sound like you are stuck in 1972, listen to a total of 98 “No thanks, not interested,” and end up with two appointments. Tuesday, repeat the same insanity.

Here’s how smart salespeople are choosing to play the updated version of the numbers game:

Monday, reach out  to X number of qualified prospects, utilize an efficient approach that engages people to open up rather than shut down, focus on having a conversation not a pitch, seek to understand issues before pushing your solutions and use language that makes you stand out from the competition. Results:  You wind up with many real conversations that lead to many appointments with qualified prospects who say “Yes.” Tuesday: repeat your success.

Salespeople who play the outdated version of the “numbers game” wind up practicing and reinforcing inefficient techniques and unproductive strategies. They continue to use, “Hi, this is X and we do Y and wanted to see if you were interested in Z,” and hoping for a different result. That outdated approach is waste of time, money and energy. It is a game you should stop playing.

The old school, worn-out, obsolete sales techniques that were once successful have completely lost their efficacy in this economy.   Many salespeople think that if they cast a wide enough net and try to sell to anyone in that net, they’re bound to find someone.  That may work in some cases, but this sort of needle in a haystack approach is not a strategy; it’s just bad business. 

Salespeople need to focus on their unique value and target clients with the greatest impact on their business. Focus on a message that speaks to the prospects’ pains, problems, issues and challenges, not your product or solution.  Instead of playing the “numbers game,” identify where to focus your efforts and update your sales language to maximize your results. When you change your approach, you change your results.

People want to do business with someone who cares about them and has their best interests in mind, not someone who is only in it for themselves.  Hone your skills and approach the sale like no one else. The only numbers you will have to worry about will be the large numbers on your paycheck. 

If you are a business owner or salesperson and you still believe that selling is a numbers game, then you are saying that you lack the skills to control the outcome. It’s only when you focus on selling to great prospects that you will see great numbers.

That’s not a game. That’s what I call a great sales strategy.