Why You Aren't Finding Enough Sales Opportunities

Why You aren't Finding Enough Sales Opportunities.

Because we all want more opportunity, right? We earned it. We should get more opportunities. And if we had more opportunities, we'd make more sales, we'd make more commissions. So why isn't the universe giving us these sales opportunities? Why isn't our organization delivering the leads that will enable us to convert these marvelous opportunities?

Well, today I'm gonna expose a hidden truth, an insidious sales truth.

You might've heard the cliche

opportunity knocks,

but what if I told you that sometimes it doesn't knock politely.

No, it comes disguised as work dressed in an edgy veil.

So you've heard about the inventor Thomas Edison, right? It, he invented the electric light bulb and it took him 10,000 experiments to perfect the light bulb. So he had 9,999 ways it didn't work, but he learned something in each one of those, those endeavors.

And he was prolific with his innovation and experimentation. Over his career. He patented 1093 inventions in the us. More than double that of his closest competitor, George Westinghouse.

 Edison said.

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work

and as it is in life, So it is in sales.

 I have to share with you that this episode was inspired to talking to one of my friends who manages a highly Skilled network of sales professionals selling high-end services to Fortune 500 companies, and he was very, very frustrated because really people just don't want to do the graft. They don't want to do the day-to-day. They don't put their best foot forward unless they think it's a really, really good opportunity. So if something doesn't smell quite right or it doesn't look that big, or it looks as though it might be a little challenging, they don't really think it's real.

So they. kind of play at it. They don't give it their all, and of course they don't convert.

So here's the thing, big fat, highly profitable sales opportunities don't suddenly plunk themselves on your desk and all you have to do is draft a quick proposal and then start collecting your sales commission. No.

Some people seem to have ingested or imbibe the Kool-Aid thinking that silly philosophy espoused in the book, The Promise is that if all we do is manifest these big deals in our head, then the universe will pony up a client fervently, salivating for your product or service. Ridiculous!

Now look, I'm all for creative visualization and having goals and aspirations. Very, very powerful indeed. But they need to be supported with the activity and work.

And you, you might be thinking, Mick, I think you're being a little harsh.

Okay. Alright. We don't sit around and try and magic up opportunities. We do stuff. We really do. we're doing stuff. It's the new world now, Mick, you know, we have to be really, really smart.

And you've noticed that prospects are getting harder to talk to. They're hiding behind all these electronic screens and your calls aren't answered. They frustratingly go to voicemail and emails bounce, and all you hear is crickets. Nothing, they don't call you back.

It's not like you can go to their offices anymore and lie and wait in the lobby. I used to love doing that. Because your prospects are working from home, lounging in their pajamas and occasionally getting on a Zoom call.

So what do you do? Ah, yes, I know what we do. I've read all about this. We have to, we have to master social media. You've gotta post every day and then you've got your sales CRM pumping out emails daily and an autoresponder sequence, and all we have to do is wait. Right?

All this stuff, we just have to sit there and wait.

And there you are sipping on your fourth black coffee grinding away at your day-to-day job. You despise the monotony, longing for something much more electric, and they're all of a sudden lurking in the shadows comes an opportunity dressed. as work.

Now when you encounter this edgy opportunity, it doesn't have a name tag. It it, and it doesn't come in a shiny gift box. Oh no. It shows up in the most unexpected ways I.

So here's an example. A prospect you've been trying to reach for the last nine months, calls you outta the blue, and you think, fabulous! This is so exciting. You get so excited. They even give you times when you can connect with 'em if you, if you missed the call, they say, oh, you call me back and they pick up the phone.

 Wow, you must be desperate to buy something. He gets so excited and then, You know, you get so disappointed when they explain that they're in between jobs and they want to, connect with you to see if they're in your network, you know of any opportunities for them, and you think, well, bugger, bummer.

And why should I help you when you wouldn't even return my calls? And you get so very, very depressed. And it's not like you can just give them an opportunity. You've gotta sit with them and listen to , why do they leave? What are their experiences, what they're looking for, what do you think they're suited to do?

And then you've gotta think about your network and I've gotta call a few people and I've gotta put some political capital behind that and some sweat equity. And the guy can't buy anything 'cause he doesn't even have a job. And so you think, oh no, I'm not doing that. Or occasionally you do 'cause it's work.

That's a lot of work and I'm not gonna sell anything. What? I'm a salesman. That's not an opportunity. That's, that's just work. Well, in reality, that's work disguised as an opportunity.

'cause here's the thing, I've, I've had these calls several times. You probably have, I mean, I've been in sales 35 years, and people do call you, right?

Because they know that you are networking with their peer group and executives, they know that you are connected. They can see on LinkedIn that you hob knob with the the rich and the famous. , I've been approached, By 'em. And so I've helped them out. And they did get new roles, but most of them, I don't think any of them got a, oh yeah, one person got a job based on my recommendation with the person that I set up.

But you know what, in all of the other instances, they got jobs in, in companies that I hadn't recommended with other executives that I hadn't volunteered, but because they were so grateful that I'd helped in their time of need, I was able to strike up that relationship. They took my call and I was able to sell them work in their new companies.

How fabulous is that?

So here's the lesson of today's podcast.

If you're not getting enough opportunities, it's because you are wearing the wrong glasses.

In order for you to have spectacular success, you need to put on different spectacles, and these spectacles see work as opportunity.

That mundane work, we're talking about graft, sweat, discipline, grit that needs to be applied daily, unwavering or unerringly.

Unerringly, right? That's what uncovers opportunities. Every day you've gotta

• keep making those phone calls.
• You've gotta keep writing those personalized emails.
• You've gotta be presenting at industry forums should be presenting at one at least once a month, maybe once a week.
• You've gotta go to networking events, you know, shake hands with people
• and offer to help people when there's no immediate reward.

Now these are the traits of the rainmaker. Because all that graft transforms you in a force to be reckoned with. You gain battle scars that become your badges of honor. You become wiser, more resilient, and you cultivate a mindset that thrives on embracing the uncharted. You relish the challenge.

You know, some of these people that make it look easy, doesn't seem like they work hard, and yet they get all the rewards and accolades. You know, my, a purple period in selling, you know, high-end consulting programs, multimillion dollar consulting programs to executives, I was just, Falling over opportunities they nicknamed me the, the Sales Jedi, because everything I walked into seemed to turn into gold.

But what they don't see behind the scenes is all of that daily graft. You know, all of the meetings that you have to do, the phone calls, the follow-ups, the research that you do in the evening, the note taking, putting all of the information that you heard in that conversation into notes so that the next time you see that person, you can remind them of those things and they're startled that you have retained all of this knowledge about the conversation and they see you as the consummate professional.

All of that stuff is not seen by everybody else. All they see is, oh, you got another deal.

So, When you spot work lurking in the shadows, don't shy away from the darkness. Embrace it for it's within those shadows that the most brilliant opportunities shine.

Embrace, work, cast off its veil of toil through effort, probing, discover, discovery, and grit, and that opportunity will be revealed.

So go out and sizzle my friends. See you next week.