New Career Recruiters Report

For years sales trainers have been telling us “you gotta have a sense of urgency or your prospects won’t buy.” And what did most of us do? We mustered up the greatest sense of urgency we could. Believe me I was in the front of the line.

When it comes to sales or social networking online or off line we have to recognize that our sense of urgency to accomplish our goals is secondary to those we are connecting with.

Let me tell you what I discovered about having a sense of urgency in sales. I found that the more my prospects felt my urgency the less I would sell. For months I would express the urgency for my prospects to get on board before it was too late. I would tell them that they would lose out if they didn’t act now. I would share with them that the price is expected to go up and they would definitely have to pay the higher price if they didn’t act now. You name it I tried it. The only thing was it was all to no avail. When it did work, I found my clients canceling after they cooled down after the sale.

Urgency is an interesting thing when it comes to customers. I’ll use myself as an example. About 18 months ago I got the new care fever. I’ve been wanting a Mercedes Benz for about 10 years but I felt the time just wasn’t right. Every time I went to the dealer to look at a Mercedes, the salespeople would all express a sense of urgency that really turned me off. Consequently I never bought the Mercedes. In two distinct shopping experiences in the last 10 years I went to my old dealership and bought another Dodge.

Just about 16 months ago I went to another Mercedes Benz dealership “on a mission” to get my Mercedes. This time things were different. I had the sense of urgency this time. All the salesperson had to do was show me what I wanted to see and follow my lead. What I discovered was that it was my urgency that made the sale.

Here’s my point. When we work with prospects, it is not our responsibility to push them to a place of having a sense of urgency but rather discern how urgent they are and flow with them. When a prospect shows up with a sense of urgency, we will never be accused of manipulating them to do something they didn’t intend on doing. While our own sense of urgency can get us in trouble at times, just remember that the urgency of a prospect is much better than our own in the sales process. They key for us as salespeople is recognizing the level of urgency our prospects have.

As social networkers and salespeople we need to learn to flow with our prospective clients in order to tap into their sense of urgency.  When we do so we will end up being heros in their sight because we will have just helped them accomplish their mission.

Until next time,

Ced Reynolds

Career Recruiter

Let’s face it. Not all people were meant to be in sales. A great career plan can will go haywire if it’s not meant to be. I know it is very alluring and the pay off seems to be well worth the effort. The reality is if sales was an easy career to be involved with everybody would be doing it. It’s really not true that all a person has to do is learn everything about a product or service and you can sell it.

A sales career needs to be treated like a business. Of course we learn as much as we can about our product or service. But one of the keys that is often underlooked is our philosophy. Our way of thinking about “why we do, what we do, with who we serve makes a world of difference.”

How many well intentioned nice people have you seen who just can’t seem to sell anything? They do all the right stuff and still find themselves struggling. I’m not talking for a few months, I’m talking about for years. Oh yeah, there is that person who breaks out of the pack from time to time. But for the most part many of these well intentioned nice people never get past below average. They try and try and try. They get trained. They work hard. They work long. They do everything they are supposed to do with limited results.

It might sound like I’m being pretty negative here. I think you would agree with me that it is much better for every person to “fit in where they fit.” If we keep trying to fit a “round peg in a square hole” we will have the same problems all the time.

Those who breakthough the “I can’t sell anything syndrome,” have a philosophy that says “if it’s to be it’s up to me.” They have more than a positive mental attitude. They have a philosophy of life that is deep to the core of their being and they don’t receive anything else that is contrary to their philosophy.

Here’s the question for you. Where is your great career plan taken you?

Ced Reynolds

Career Recruiter