Where To Start?
Salesmen often get caught up in processes, CRMs, lead services, or other noise which distracts them from where they should really start and finish each day. You start with the customer and work backwards from there.
Without a customer there is nothing else to do. You don’t have any data to fill into your CRM, you don’t have a lead to work, you don’t have a process to follow.
Without a customer you are shooting blindly into the dark and hoping someone hears your marketing pleas.
With a customer you can start to build a relationship, you can talk to them about their needs and how you can meet them. You can start to find solutions for them, and offer things that make their job easier. You can find a way for you two to work together.
After all that is over, then and only then should you worry about processes or putting them into your CRM or talking to them about prices or warranties or contracts.
Start with the customer and work from there.
Photo courtesy of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/basegreen
“Action is the antidote to Fear.”
A wise old man once taught me this.
When in doubt, just put the hind end into gear and get busy.
One other way to simply say this is to avoid process over progress. If you start with the customer, it’s progress. If you start with the process, you very well may never get to the customer! Good stuff!