| The above quote, "Eighty
percent of success is showing up." is from Woody Allen.
It was particularly appropriate this past weekend.
I went to take a dance class. My favorite teacher was back
in town for a short time. I was thrilled and ready to dance!
This teacher is incredibly talented, an excellent dancer,
good choreographer and her class is high energy and fun! I
had often wondered why she was not more successful as a teacher
or why she never got into a decent dance company.
I rearranged my entire schedule to be there. So did a number
of her students. One cut short her holiday weekend with her
parents to get on a plane and fly back in time for the class.
Another rearranged her work schedule, going in to work at
4:00 a.m. in order to be done in time for the afternoon class.
The class never happened. My favorite teacher called in "sick"
at the last minute.When she taught regularly in New York City
this teacher had a
habit of canceling classes at the last minute. She'd been
gone for six months and was scheduled to teach only four classes
over the holidays. So far she's only made it to the first
class. She called in sick for the second. Was she sick? Perhaps
and who cares?
I'll never again rearrange my day to take her class. I know
several other dancers who also will never again rearrange
their days for her and even more dancers who will simply never
take her class again! Now I understand why this teacher never
got very far in the dance world.
I was raised on the old show business adage, "The show
must go on." It has served me well. As a young dancer
it was drilled into my head that the audience didn't care
how I felt. They were there to see me dance. They'd paid a
lot of money to see me dance and it was my responsibility
to be at my best, no matter how I felt.
While that "nobody cares how you feel" message
may not be the best message for a child, in business and in
sales it's the truth.
Your prospects and customers want what they want when they
want it. It is your job to deliver. If you do not, they will
find another source.
The first rule of prospecting and selling: Show up.
Most sales are made between the 7th and 12th contact with
a prospect. Most sales people stop at about three to four
contacts. All you have to do to sell more is show up a few
more times!
Want to build trust and rapport? Show up. Keep showing up.
Do what you say you're going to do when you say you're going
to do it. No excuses. Prospects and customers like and trust
people who do what they say they're going to do, when they
say they're going to do it!
Want to close the sale? Show up and ask for the order. If
you do
not get the order that time, show up and ask again.
It doesn't matter how smart you are. It doesn't matter how
talented you are. It doesn't matter how great your product
is. If you don't show up, nothing else counts.
Wendy Weiss, "The Queen of Cold Calling," is a
sales trainer, author and sales coach. Her book, "Cold
Calling for Women," and her interactive CD-ROM, "Cold
Calling for Printers," can both be ordered by visiting
http://www.wendyweiss.com. Contact her at wendy@wendyweiss.com.
Get her free e-zine at http://www.wendyweiss.com.
© 2004 Wendy Weiss
May 2004 www.liwomen.com
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