Don't Get Caught With Your Pipeline Down!

by Tim Roberts

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.

                                                                                                                                   Thomas A. Edison

I weep for the distracted salesman. Yet summer is oh so tempting. Vacation, family reunions, a host of weddings, golf games to be sharpened and ice cold beverages chased with laughter.

True, summer can be an enormous re-charge. Necessary even. Justifications roll off tongues as strong as sacred affirmations.

Still, I weep. I weep for the salesman that will feel sales quota pressure when the lotion wears off. I even weep for buyers and purchasing agents everywhere, which doesn’t happen often. Can you imagine the buyer’s phone on Tuesday and Wednesday after the Labor Day holiday? It’ll be lit up like a Christmas tree with calls from every amateur seller on earth desperate to fill their drying pipeline and flat out horny for a meeting. Negotiating leverage is mindlessly dispensed for the almighty appointment.

Most likely buyers are already telling you, “Get back with me after Labor Day.” Funny how they invite their own punishment. Be warned, though, that “after Labor Day” means whatever they wish. Did I mention lost negotiating leverage?

You do have a choice: think and plan. How will you try “one more time” every day? What will you say to the buyer to get the meeting you want now - and stay the master of your pipeline?

Don’t get caught with your pipeline down. It’s embarrassing.

At Sandler Training Trustpointe we help our clients manage and measure what they can control. To learn more about the buyer-seller dance, negotiating leverage and lit-up Christmas trees, call Tim Roberts at 317-845-0041 or tim.roberts@sandler.com.

Has anyone seen my belt?