It’s that time of year when we start attending conventions and regional meetings to promote our brands, gather new sales leads, and shake hands with old friends. Regional and local trade associations will host events, and the International Builder Show (IBS) will take place next month. At these events, I’m always reminded that the people I am shaking hands with are the ones I first met 30 years ago.
To start the new year, I’m going to suggest that you launch your 2025 sales campaign with the idea that the prospecting conversations you open today will, if successful, last for decades. Here are some tips that will help you launch conversations that endure.
1. Pick up the darn phone! At the airport, the security message is, “See something? Say something.” At the sales office, a similar mantra should apply. If you’ve seen evidence of a new lead, or gained a referral, or had a request for information, make a call … without hesitation.
It’s easy for salespeople to procrastinate this simple task because they are seeking the perfect words. Instead of hesitating, pick up the phone with the right mindset and the words will follow. The goal is to open a dialogue with sincere interest about understanding a prospect’s business.
2. Always be opening. Instead of the classic mantra that says you should always be closing, try opening doors. It’s well known that a sale which comes too easily is a warning sign of bad credit, a pricing mistake, or that a quick and easy sale might be an indicator of disloyalty. Therefore, your goal shouldn’t be to close, but instead open a dialogue.
As counterintuitive as this may seem, my experience has been that not presuming you are the best vendor for a customer is a powerful mindset at the opening of a relationship. Countless times in my career, prospects have asked, “Why should I buy from you?” I confess, “I have no idea, but we should find out.” This disarming and deliberate approach ironically accelerates relationship building and, therefore, the sales process.
3. Be the first runner-up. I’ve never been a big fan of the simile that a salesperson should be a hunter. Hunting kills and leaves a trail of blood. Instead, I prefer farming and the idea of planting seeds. Operate on the premise that most builders and remodelers choose a new supplier when something goes wrong with the existing one. Position yourself as the first runner-up, the ideal choice when things go wrong with the existing supplier.
If you agree that it takes numerous interactions to get the first sale from a prospect, then you should act deliberately to build a series of interactions designed to make the sales not a one-time event, but the first of many in a relationship.
4. Be interested as the means to be interesting. The irony is that a “push” to get a sale while convincing a buyer that your offer is interesting creates resistance in the buyer. A “pull” of information that illustrates your interest in a buyer causes them to lean in. Sales listening instead of talking will reveal you are the better choice even before something goes wrong with the existing supplier.
The conversations that you launch today establish the nature of your conversation for years to come. You don’t realize it in the moment until you start attending trade shows, customer events, and other casual business functions. One day you look up and see an old industry friend and realize that the first encounter you had was the launch of a 30-year dialogue. Start prospecting conversations today as the means to generate dialogues that will endure tomorrow and throughout your career.
