Manners matter. We know that interrupting people face-to-face is rude and can be quite embarrassing. Our social norms make it too risky to attempt to force our agendas and wills upon people we encounter in person.
However, with distance and virtualization, there are still the unimaginative souls who persist in trying to violate basic manners. Playing a numbers game, trying old school approaches such as cold calling or other forms of spam gets knee-jerk blocking from recipients. As buyers, we have the power to block out those who invade our attention space pretty easily.
Selling without imagination is a waste of everyone’s time. Instead of trying to force your will on others, how about working on your personal sales process first? Think about how to earn someone’s attention.
Earning someone’s respect, attention and business is hard work. You have to think long and hard about how you are perceived. Then think about the touches that make sense and who will pay attention. Each step has its own intrinsic ratchet down ratio.
Testing what you have in your head and how people actually react to your overtures and gestures takes quite a bit of vigilance.
Ultimately, you can shape a sales funnel that makes sense for those you who can say, “Yes.” You can attract the right people, start conversations, and keep attention towards a path to doing business together.
You have to do this while competing with the entire world. The great thing is that if you are creative and persistent, you have the opportunity to have your own personal flowing pipeline of opportunities and deals. You can differentiate and have an asset by designing and staying consistent with your custom approach to selling and making connections with those that you can bring value to in this noisy world.
Yes, it’s strategy. It takes time. But it’s much less wasteful and more efficient to do business by figuring out what scales.
How can you design and test a better, more human approach to connecting?
“You can differentiate and have an asset by designing and staying consistent with your custom approach to selling and making connections with those that you can bring value to in this noisy world.”
Carry out tasks with originality and do it often. A little goes a long way when it comes to defining yourself. Absolutely agree. The noticeability of a “brand” depends on longevity.
You get it! While everyone is running around looking for that magic answer, you can stick to a strategy and show up consistently. Persistence is a big differentiator. Thanks for the thought and insight!