Selling is a “numbers game” myth: Debunked

If you still believe that selling is a numbers game, then you are saying that you lack the skills to control the outcome.

Improve Your Skills to Change Your Results

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Here’s how some salespeople are currently choosing to play the outdated version of the numbers game.

Monday, reach out and call one-hundred unqualified prospects, utilize an outdated approach that turns people off, use phrases that sound like you are stuck in 1972, listen to a total of ninety-eight “no thanks, not interested,” and end up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 amount of qualified prospects
• utilize an efficient approach that engages people to open up, not shut down
• focus on having a conversation, not a pitch
• seek to understand issues before pushing your solutions
• use language that makes you stand out from the competition, not blend in with them

You will have real, productive 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Salespeople who play the outdated version of the “numbers game” wind up practicing and reinforcing inefficient techniques and counterproductive strategies.

They continue to use, “Hi, this is X and we do Y. I 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That outdated approach is waste of time, money, and energy.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 effectiveness 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.

Focus On Your Message

That may work in some cases but this sort of needle in a haystack approach is not a real strategy, it’s just bad business.

Salespeople need to focus on their unique value and target clients that have 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.

Change Your Approach

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 just playing the numbers and 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.

If you’re looking to start productive conversations with qualified prospects that bring real results, our FREE guide, Seven Steps to Building Effective Prospecting Sequences, will help you take your prospecting campaigns to the next level.