The “Waste of Time” Antidote

I was talking to a friend today and he mentioned in passing that he likes to have sales calls with prospects. He said something worth noting about his calls:

It gives me something to write about every time.

I hear from a lot of consultants that they want to avoid “wasting time” with prospects. What’s behind this?

First, an assumption that every sales call should lead to a sale. I couldn’t disagree with that more.

Second, that calls not ending in a sale have no inherent value. Again, I wholeheartedly disagree.

Instead of looking at a call as a waste of time, I’d challenge you to ask what you can learn from each call you take. Here are a just a few questions that come to mind:

• Who is this person?
• What do they want?
• Why isn’t there a fit to work together?
• What signs could you have picked up on that would prevent you from taking a call like it in the future?
• What can you do for this person besides sell them something?

As you can see, there’s a lot you can learn from a simple call. Keep your mind and ears open for information that’ll help you grow as a business owner and service provider.