Imagine the majestic lion on the African Serengeti. Lying under the shade of an acacia tree, he observes gazelle grazing on nearby grass. His tail whips away a fly, yet he does not move. Hungry, he takes no action. But unless he chases and catches one of the gazelle, he will not eat today. Instead he waits and hopes one will simply drop between his paws.
It will not.
We know the lion in the example doesn’t exist – at least not for long. Lazy lions have an incredibly short life span. Successful lions stalk and capture their prey daily.
Like the lion, the successful seller is also a majestic creature, stalking their sales, and performing the honorable service of matching the right solution to the customer’s problem or need at the right price. When done correctly you have made another’s life better and gained profit in the process.
Are you getting up and stalking your sales? Not merely waiting for money to drop into the register? I certainly hope so. And we stalk sales by engaging personally with our customer and asking powerfully appropriate questions.
What problem is the customer trying to solve? What if anything did s/he use previously? What was good and bad about the previous solution? Have conditions changed that will affect current needs? Will anything likely change in the future during the expected service life of the product?
Engage and identify the customer’s needs and you become the powerful lion stalking your sales successfully. You’ll eat every day.