Sticktoittiveness

Obviously, I haven’t told a story each day about the appointments I have set.  And I haven’t set 10 appointments yet this week – only three. It’s time to step it up.

I was having lunch today with a customer and he said something so simple, yet very poignant.  “You have to know when it’s time to work.”  That’s so very true and I have to know that it is time to work – RIGHT NOW!  I have to spend more time finding ways to make appointments.

As an aside, I had a fun experience yesterday participating in a branding session for Lasallian education.  The moderator told us about Ernest Hemingway’s six-word story.  Here is my six-word story about sales.

Meet more people.  Make more loans.

The Coming Week

I have six pending deals to discuss next week.  If my closing ratio is only 7% (and who knows if it’s even that good), none of these deals will close.  This tells me one thing – I don’t have enough deals to discuss.  How do we fix this?

1. You can’t close a loan before you have a request.
2. You can’t have a request before you find a prospect with a need.
3. You can’t have a prospect with a need until you meet the prospect.
4. You can’t meet the prospect until you make the call!

Simply put, I need to make more calls.  I will start easy.  Next week I will ask for 10 appointments – just 10.  I will keep a record of how many dials it takes to reach 10 people to ask for an appointment.  And I will write about one call each day.

Now, hold me to it.

A Little Progress

In “How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling”, Walter LeMar Talbot tells Frank Bettger that the key to sales is to “see the people”.  One year later, Bettger records that he made 1,849 calls that resulted in 828 interviews, and 65 sales.  That is a closing ratio of 3.5% on calls and 7.85% on interviews (meetings).  Obviously, his sales are likely to decline if he makes fewer calls. It’s simple math.

Today, I had an “interview”.  I met with a couple of potential referral sources and I think they are sold on the bank.  With a little effort, I believe that at least one deal could come from them this year.

And the best part is that the meeting was fun! I enjoyed their company, lunch was great, and I learned a little bit about what someone else does for a living.

Of course, this was only one interview.  If my ratio is anything like Bettger’s, I will need to do this 13 times to get one sale.  Unfortunately, I don’t have 13 calls scheduled for the rest of this month.  I guess I need to make some calls.

Incompetent Salesman

I am a commercial lender for a local bank in Memphis, TN.  My job requires me to be equal parts credit analyst, special assets (aka bad loans) specialist, customer service, and, yes, salesman.  In a typical week, I am on the job about 45-50 hours.  About 10 hours is wasted because I tend to procrastinate, but some of that is made up with weekend work or homework.

My sales goal this year is $6 million in net loan growth – approximately $7-8 million total if you consider payoffs throughout the year.  That’s a hefty goal when you consider I only did $3 million last year.  Most of my growth last year was from existing clients.  But, this year doesn’t appear to offer that luxury.  With a small portfolio, I anticipate that 80% of my goal must be met from new clients.  If I am being honest with myself, I would suggest that only 10-20% of that time is spent on sales.

This is my dilemma.  I am an incompetent salesman.  I lack that innate ability to make people instantly love me.  I often struggle with asking for the business.  But, more to the point, I have a hard time actually starting the process from the beginning.

The truth is, I am a damn good banker.  I won’t say it out loud to my coworkers, but maybe three people here have a better grasp on managerial accounting than me.  I can look at a business and quickly ascertain their strengths, weaknesses, and creditworthiness.  Once I start to write an analysis, it turns out better than most on the first try.  If I happen to reread (which rarely happens) and edit, I could win a Pulitzer for my insightful remarks.  Maybe that’s a little much, but credit underwriting is my unique strength.

Thus, once a company actually begins working with me, I generally have a customer for life.  I quickly learn enough about a business to be a trusted consultant and many of my customers ask me for thoughts on a regular basis.

It’s getting a business to move their accounts that alludes me.  I am an incompetent salesman.  But, that is going to change.

Starting today I will do something to sell everyday.  When I do, I will write about it.  If I find a helpful tip or a good story to share, it will be here.  If I screw up, it will be here.  If I need to vent, it will be here.  Along the way, I hope to improve my results as a salesperson.

I am an incompetent salesman.  But, not for long.