3 Referral Pools

1. ABC Lake- Asking for a referral from every person you meet
2. Old Man Joe’s Farm Pond- Calling on existing clients and “farming your book of business” and asking for referrals
3. Fish Hatchery- Developing a network of referral power partners who send business to you

True sales professionals know that prospecting is a vital ingredient in the recipe for success.  In fact, prospecting should be one of your daily tasks.  As you may have heard before, prospecting can make or break your sales effort – which is exactly why you need to do it well…but what does it take to be “good” at prospecting?

First of all, it’s important to keep in mind that prospecting is more than just a part time task…it is your livelihood.  Prospecting should not be a duty that’s left only to “slow” times.  Continued prospecting ensures constant growth, and can minimize income and production slumps. Your prospecting efforts should be viewed as an investment in the future success of your business.  Basically, it’s an investment in your long term goals.  If you’re consistently seeking out new leads, you guarantee yourself an audience regardless of market status.

Secondly, you should recognize that prospecting is a discipline.  Rory Vaden says “Success is never owned, it’s only rented, and the rent is due every day.” It won’t matter how “good” you are if you don’t have the discipline to see it through.  Much of being a successful sales person is perseverance and practicing a solid work ethic.  Set prospecting activity goals for yourself and use a schedule to get there.  Commit yourself.

And finally, prospecting should be viewed as a task that requires both quality AND quantity.   Prospect well, but prospect often. Many sales professionals swear by the “triple rule” that says your prospecting efforts should exceed your expected sales by three times.  For example, on the small scale, if you wanted to sell 3 products, you should prospect 9 potential clients!

Remember: never lose sight of what needs to be done! Get a handle on the commitment you’ve made to your own success and stick to your goals.  Make sure you are “fishing” like a pro and asking for referrals.  Ask yourself, are you really taking advantage of available resources?  Are you procrastinating?  If you are not working at your full potential get a coach or accountability partner to help you make sure you’re fishing in the right ponds and consistently have you line in the water.  For more info on coaching go to  http://www.ssnseminars.com/Sales-Coaching.aspx.

Go get a pen right now and list your top 5 priorities.

Confident top producers all take action immediately with everything they do and guess what their clients do?  They want to do business with them.  When someone has unconditional confidence it attracts others to them.  People can see it in their eyes.  Your clients do not want to do business with a whipped puppy; they want a champion pure breed that is going to bring home the gold!  You might be asking yourself, “How am I supposed to do this?  I’m not naturally like that!” 

Now that you have a list of things that are your priorities, let’s figure out how to change our life from a “should do” mindset to a “must do” mindset.  As fast as you can list the things that you know you should really do, but maybe you just haven’t gotten around to it lately (ex. prospecting).  Next write down all the things that you know you must do no matter what– things that you do all the time (ex. pay bills).

Now look at both lists.  In your first list was it things such as lose weight, read more often, go to church?  Then in your second list was it buy groceries, change the oil in my car, pay taxes?  We naturally attach our priorities and things that we think we “must do” to things that cost us money and are in our budgets!  Yet the things we “should do” and don’t ever get around to actually doing them are things that require time!  We naturally hold the most value to time and money. 

Now ask yourself this, “If I were to move all of the things in my “should do” column over to my “must do” column and actually achieved everything on my list, would my confidence go up or down?”  Confidence tends to build on positive momentum.  Positive momentum comes from doing the things that you know you “should do” consistently.

Let’s now assign a dollar value to both lists.  First list how much you spend on the things you must do, next assign a dollar value to how much you think it is worth to achieve the things you “should do”. 

This next step is the most important look at your “should do” list and write down the reason you are not doing it!  Is it time or money?  Now eliminate the excuse, and find a way no matter what to do what you need to do to achieve everything you “should do”!  Look at the things you waste money on in your “must do” section that you don’t have to.

When my wife and I did this exercise for the first time we found that we had a long list of things we “should do”.  We discovered that she could eliminate one of her “must do’s”–most of her time during the week was dedicated to cleaning and maintaining our house.  She was not doing things she knew she “should do” because of it.  So we made a decision to get a house keeper.  Now we assign money in our family budget to some of her “should do” list, which then turned them into “must do’s” and priorities!  Since that day she has accomplished most of her “should do’s” and is now starting her own company.

Be mindful of your priorities.  How much is living the life of your dreams worth?

The reason people do not reach their true potential is because they subconsciously build barriers that cause self-doubt.  They don’t believe they can hit high goals.  The three most important characteristics for breaking belief barriers are commitment, control, and confidence. 

1. Commitment is doing the work–putting in the effort with no excuses!  Top producers do not make excuses; they stay committed. 

When I think of commitment, I am reminded of a time when I was selling books door-to-door with The Southwestern Company.  While in Missouri that summer, I had over ten flat tires in three months!  I had so many flat tires I started timing myself with a stopwatch as if I were on a NASCAR pit crew.  So I find myself in the middle of nowhere, on a mile-long driveway (scenery common to that area).  The driveway passed through a canopy of trees.

As I was changing the tire trying to beat my pit crew record time, I noticed my arm looked like my skin was crawling.  Upon further inspection I realized I was completely covered in ticks!  I don’t know about you, but when people ask me what my favorite critter is I don’t say ticks.  So what did I do?  I reacted the same way any other rational human being would-I flipped out!  I stripped down buck naked and threw my clothes in a plastic bag so ticks would not get in the car.  

Then I drove to the nearest gas station.  I hopped out, but realized I’d better put my pants back on.  So after that embarrassing act, I ran into the gas station with no shirt and no shoes.  An older lady looked at me and said, “Son, what’s wrong with you?”  I replied, “I’ve got ticks!”  So I grabbed a razor and ran to the bathroom.  Now as I was looking at myself in the mirror and trying to pick the ticks off, I had a deep sense of doubt.  I wanted to quit what I was doing, go home, and use this as a reason why I didn’t hit my goal.  But, something inside of me said No.  I had committed to my sales manager, my friends, parents, and (more importantly) to myself I was not going to quit on a single day, week, or month.  So I shaved the ticks off one by one.  I went on and finished my day.  That day was not my most productive day, but it was my most important because after that experience I knew nothing would stop me from fulfilling my commitments from then on.

We find ourselves in different situations everyday.  After reflecting upon that extreme example of what it means to be committed, I found that sometimes we cannot do anything about the situations in which we find ourselves.  In order to reach our Maximum Earning Potential, the level of commitment we need to have should be deep enough that it goes past being committed to someone else, and the dedication to the goal is based on personal accountability. 

Soon, we will dive into the second success factor for obtaining Maximum Earning Potential—Control.

Dustin Hillis is Co-Founder of Success Starts Now!  He was a phenomenal salesperson as a student dealer with The Southwestern Company, setting the company record in 2004 and making over $97,000 in a single summer.