There are 2 distinctly different types of sales positions. There are positions where leads are provided and those where they aren’t. My observation is the masses of sales professionals want leads.
The first trouble with “leads provided” positions is someone else controls the pipeline. Someone else decides what enticements to offer to create interest and ultimately a response. This costs money.
The second trouble is the gap in perception by the entity providing the lead. They expect you to close every opportunity. You could do that if the leads were “good”. What is a good lead? Depends on which side you are representing.
The third trouble is you are late to the table. The prospect has already formed an opinion based on the marketing. Sometimes, you are seen as an annoyance to someone who just wants the price. The prospective buyer has already traveled down the buyer’s journey before they met you.
Finally, there is the loss of control. You must wait until someone decides they are interested before you can get involved. The buyer must initiate the first action.
Let’s contrast that with someone skilled at creating their own leads.
The company is willing to pay a certain amount of money between marketing and sales. The more they pay for marketing, the less they can pay for sales. When you generate your own leads, you get all the money.
When you generate your own leads, you control the message from the start. Based on your skill level, you can create curiosity in situations where the prospect may have never acted had they not encountered you.
You will close a high percentage of those you engage with because you will only engage with those who are interested not only in your product/service, but also in you. These are the truly good leads.
And the best part is, you initiate the action. You don’t have to wait for anyone.
Paul J Meyer, one of my early mentors, had a quote he used often. “I would rather be a master prospector then a wizard of speech and have no one to tell my story to.”
When you develop the skills of prospecting, you will be a highly valued and sought-after professional. You will not need to learn how to be a powerful closer. In fact, give me a good prospector with mediocre closing skills any day.
So why do most sales professionals choose “leads provided”? Maybe it’s laziness. Maybe there is some sense of security. Or maybe they fear talking to strangers and sorting out those who are qualified and interested from those who aren’t.
Just remember, there is a unit of work associated with making a sale. When you create your own leads, you will probably spend 80% of your time finding a qualified and interested prospect, but once you do, most will purchase. This means spending 20% or less of your time giving a presentation and closing. When the leads are provided, you will spend all your time giving presentations and closing but because of what has been mentioned, you will close a much smaller percentage of the leads. For me, it’s much more enjoyable doing the first approach rather than the latter.
If you are currently involved in sales, or would like to be, and you are looking for an opportunity where you can get the training and mentoring to learn how to create your own leads, reach out to me. SafeStreets USA is currently looking to attract and train the right people for a tremendous opportunity. You can reach me at jkenney@safestreets.com.