Of course, we’re not going to abandon our sales goals, just the toxic thinking that surrounds them! We all feel the pressure to generate results. What if the real source of prospecting failure is focusing too much on the result rather than your process. The finish line isn’t where the race begins. Top performers prepare to win. Here’s a story that illustrates this.

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A business owner asked his top salesperson to teach a newly hired sales rep how to cold call.

So, this top performer brings the rookie salesperson into a room, and sits down at a table. On the table was a phone and a call list. The top salesperson says to the rookie, “Okay, I’m going to teach you how to cold call. Just listen and observe.”

He picks up the phone, makes the first call and gets hung up on immediately. He continues down the call list and gets hung up on the 4th, 5th and 6th call, but it seems every time he got hung up on, the happier this sales champion became, as it did not seem to affect his positive attitude.

Finally, the rookie asks, “Why are you so happy? You just got hung up on six times in a row.”

The top salesperson smiled. “Yes, but I just made $120.00 (USD).”

Surprised, the rookie says, “You made six calls and got hung up on six times. How can you tell me you just made $120.00?”

The salesperson looked at the rookie and responded, “Last week, I made 500 calls and earned $10,000.”

The Lesson:

The Result IS the Process!

• This sales champion new that one bad cold call wasn’t going to ruin his hour.
• One bad hour wasn’t going to ruin his day.
• One bad day wasn’t going to ruin his week.
• One bad week wasn’t going to ruin his month.

He had a clearly defined success formula and a process he trusted. He knew if he made 500 calls per week, those 500 calls will generate a certain number of prospects. And based on his statistics, he also knew that a certain number of prospects would convert into customers.

What you measure you manage. Measure every avenue and approach when prospecting, create your success formula around your tracked activities that produce results, and always continue to be coached to ensure your approach is aligned with your strengths and individuality.

Make The Inner – Shift

If you want greater peace of mind and confidence in your process to produce the results needed, it makes it very difficult to trust a process if you don’t have one in place to trust!

Shift from being result driven to process driven. Rather than push for the result, honor your proven process. Let the result be the byproduct of the stellar implementation of your process so that you can enjoy the journey without the pressure.

Being open to challenging your personal perspectives takes courage and a willingness to upgrade your thinking for the better. Here’s the added benefit. Making $20 for every, “No” you hear sounds like a great return on the investment of your time and effort, especially when you ultimately win the sale!

Focus on the Mindset Lesson – Not on Cold Calling

Before you start analyzing the concept of cold calling, please focus on the message of this story. It’s not about actually picking up the phone and dialing blindly to people you don’t know, or whether this type of telephone cold calling is the most effective method to generate new business opportunities and prospects.

It’s about shifting your thinking and behavior to be process driven.

Besides, an unsolicited message to an unqualified prospect via email, LinkedIn or any other communication platform is no different than a cold call. The engagement of prospects through social media, events, and emails are still cold calls but warms up the prospect so the cold call (via the phone) becomes warm. Lead nurturing is key!

Prospecting is about taking a holistic approach to generate new business based on industry, profession, geographic location, success formula and prospecting goals that will ultimately define your sales process. But we’re not discussing that  here, as this is a topic I cover in many prior articles.

It’s simply about a mindset shift every sales leader need to make if they want to be more present and engaged when speaking with prospects, which is where creativity and intentional listening occur, not when you’re focusing on a future expectation.