Success and familiarity breed complacency. And when complacency sets in you tend to fall back into old habits or develop new bad habits. One of those is the tendency to skip steps in the sales process. Sometimes complacency causes you to get lazy and not ask follow-up questions or to assume you know what the prospect means. You might also forget to ask critical questions because you acquire a false sense of security. You win most of the business with this customer “so I’ll just ask a few questions, mail in the quote and collect the commission” … or so you think. Familiarity gives you an advantage. You know how the customer thinks. You have a history. You have a sense of what they will spend. You know the decision process. You know what they have done in the past. They will share more information with you. You have an advantage over the competition. Don’t squander it by being lazy and skipping steps.
Likewise, success can lull you into a feeling of “I got this”. “Those questions are for amateurs. I’m a pro. I know what needs to be done.” That thought process will send you right back down to the bottom where you came from if you are not careful. Airline pilots who have thousands of flights under their belts still go thru every step of the pre-flight checklist … every time … every flight … they don’t skip anything … EVER. Be like the pilot touch all the bases. Do all the steps every time … every sales call.
If you have a sales question you would like to discuss follow the link to schedule a call:
https://calendly.com/dancaramanico/callwithdan
