Hopeless - Not by Jerry Hocutt

Some salespeople feel hopeless if things aren’t going their way. Didn’t get the appointment? “Selling is hopeless.” Didn’t meet quota? “Selling is hopeless.” Didn’t get the big sale? “Selling is hopeless.”

What they refuse to admit is, “I’m not willing to pay the price to do what it takes.”

As a sales trainer, my job is to help my clients find new business through cold calling and referrals. If I had a dollar for every time I heard a salesperson say that cold calling is hopeless, or that getting referrals is hopeless, I could be ranked with Bill Gates and Warren Buffett as one of the world’s richest people.

Don’t get me wrong. Some things are hopeless. Controlling where tornadoes cut a swath through the heartland is hopeless. Making the sun rise in the West is hopeless. Stopping the aging process is hopeless.

The key word is “control”. Things out of your control may be hopeless. Fine. You can live with that. But if you can affect the outcome in some small way either through your words, your actions, or your attitude, you can’t say that things are hopeless. If you want the result, and those results have been achieved by others, things aren’t hopeless. If you’re willing to do what it takes – to be involved in the process – things aren’t hopeless.

Hope shows the way

Too many people confuse something as being hopeless with their unwillingness to do what it takes to succeed. It’s all a matter of choice. Climbing Mt. Everest may seem hopeless to you, but not to those who have made the trek. You choose not to be a climber. Winning the Masters may seem hopeless, but not to those who have won it. You simply choose not to do what it takes to be a champion golfer. Nothing wrong with that. Just don’t say that it’s hopeless. You’re more accurate when you say, “I choose not to do what it takes.”

Hopeless means that something is absolutely not possible by anyone. For everything else, there is hope. The number of defeats Abraham Lincoln suffered before becoming our greatest president is well documented. The defeats didn’t leave him feeling hopeless. Disappointed, yes. Hopeless, no. How do you know? Because he kept trying until hope showed the way.

The story of Thomas Edison and his discovery of the first electric light bulb is identical. Finding the answer was never hopeless. Just undiscovered. Hope was knowing there was an answer waiting to be found. Edison and Lincoln changed the world forever.

Frozen prospects

I encourage salespeople to qualify their prospects better. Develop your seven qualifying questions. Know who you’re looking for. The better you qualify, the faster you close the deals.

Then continue to improve your questions. For years I thought my best qualified prospects were any business people who wanted to find new customers. But I wasn’t even close.

I learned. I was asking a terrible qualifying question when I asked, “Would you like to find more new customers in order to increase your sales and income?” Of course everyone said yes. Who doesn’t want to make more money?

My fault. Poor question. With so many saying, “Yes! I want to make more money,” I thought I had some great leads. But I wasted my time with too many people unwilling to pay the price.

I changed my question. Now I ask, “Are you willing to do what it takes to find new business?” If their answer is yes, I can help. This question is like catching a deer in the headlights. The unqualified prospects freeze when they hear the question. Their hesitation is their answer.

Able. But willing?

When cold calling, I understand I can’t control what the prospects say and do. It’s their decision. I can’t control it. But I can affect it. This gives me hope. The best I can do is to inspire them to want to do whatever it takes to help themselves. If they’re not willing to help themselves, it’s best we part company. They’re wasting their time and mine.

It’s not unusual to have two seminar participants, from the same company, sitting next to each other during the program. After the program, one tells me how much she learned, and which ideas she will put to use today. Her partner may tell me, “This sucked. Worthless. What a waste of time.” Talking to their boss weeks later, I find the first one who used the ideas is flourishing, while her closed-minded partner has been fired. Both got the same information. Only one was willing to act on it.

I can show people what to do, how to do it, and why it works. But if they choose not to act, it doesn’t mean things are hopeless. And I haven’t failed. They’re just unwilling. When people don’t act in their own best interests to save themselves, they get no sympathy from me or their employers.

So how about it? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to get what you want? If you are, there’s hope.

About The Author:

© 2009 Jerry Hocutt. Read more articles by Jerry at his blog http://footinthedoor.squarespace.com/journal and listen to a free preview of his CD/MP3 audio program Cold Calling for Cowards® at http://www.footinthedoor.com/freepreview.html.