The First Person To Attempt To Swim The English Channel And What It Has To Do With Sales

By Gil Cargill, Sales Acceleration Coach

Tragically, no one knows the name of the first who tried to swim the English Channel. As folklore goes, he made it halfway to France, figured he couldn’t continue, then turned around and swam back to England. He did not get the recognition, success or glory that would’ve been his had he completed the swim.

What does this have to do with sales? I see hundreds of salespeople start prospecting campaigns, get halfway into it, then decide it won’t work and quit. This is doubly tragic when you compare it to our unknown swimmer – both invested a great deal of energy to get halfway to the goal, only to give up and miss out on a great accomplishment.

Recent data regarding prospecting shows people who persist are those who succeed. Back in the “good old days,” the Dartnell Sales Institute conducted a study of salespeople and found 90 percent abandon their effort to get a new account after four attempts.

It’s important to note the majority of companies surveyed at the same time acknowledged they were not ready to make a purchasing decision until after they had been asked seven or eight times. More recently, James Oldroyd, a Ph.D. at M.I.T., found we need to touch strangers’ minds 12 to 15 times in order to maximize top-of-mind awareness.

So what we have to realize is, until you have delivered your value proposition and your argument for a face-to-face and/or a phone meeting with a prospect multiple times, you will not be successful. Don’t miss the opportunity to grow your top line by implementing a prospecting system that works perpetually. As I’m fond of saying, I want to touch all the prospects as often as I can with an educational and value-laden message so that, when they are ready to buy, I will get a chance to compete. The odds are your prospecting efforts are hitting good prospects at the wrong time.

Other studies I’ve read show roughly 3 percent of all prospective buyers in all markets are current buyers. In other words, they’re ready to buy right now. Ninety-seven percent, therefore, are not current buyers. Our prospecting practices, which harken back to the nineteenth century, are essentially based on the hope the next phone call or canvass call — or even the next person you meet at a networking event or tradeshow — will be a current buyer.

That’s a bad strategy. Recognize most of your first contacts will not buy, and you’ll be successful. And I mean that sincerely. By recognizing they won’t buy you have a vehicle to stay in touch with these future buyers perpetually.

So, the name of the game is to get in touch and stay in touch with all decision-makers all of the time. Then, repeat, repeat, repeat, and keep on repeating. I guarantee you — regardless of what you sell you’ll enjoy more success than ever if you execute your prospecting strategies persistently. Don’t be the next swimmer to give up halfway through swimming the English Channel.