Successful Sales is Simply a Numbers Game!
In the late 1980s I sought an insurance sales position. It offered a fair first year salary while learning the job. My salary would double during year two; doubling again during the third. To some this might seem ideal, but I was uneasy. So, I asked if I could spend a day with a salesman, whom we’ll call “Fred.” Reluctantly, they agreed.
I traveled to a remote town in to observe successful sales presentations by one of their best salesmen. For Fred to reach his financial goal, he only had to make four small sales today and each successive day. So, our goal was to make only four sales. Simple?
We got into his old Cadillac and drove down a dusty street in a poor part of town, stopping at a trailer home parked on a full-sized lot. As we walked toward the front door, it slammed shut. Fred politely knocked, but there was no answer. It seemed logical, so I tried to say, “the homeowner didn’t want to talk to us,” but Fred motioned to me to not say a word.
After knocking repeatedly with no result, we started walking back to his car. I tried to speak, but he motioned to me not to say anything until we reached the car. When we got back into his car, I could contain myself no longer. “That guy just slammed the door in our face!” He didn’t even reply to me. Instead, he said “I saw this person yesterday, whom I know positively needs this insurance policy. So, we drove to this next house without ever mentioning the previous incident. At the end of a very long day, Fred had made four sales, meeting his goal.
From this incident I learned that a good salesman doesn’t get discouraged from rejection. He simply forgets it, knowing that the person he couldn’t convince is poorer for not having purchased the product. Besides,successful sales is just a numbers game. If you make enough good sales presentations, you will get enough action to make it worth your while. It’s simply a numbers game!
An Unrelated Story?
Years later, a company sent me to a convention in Las Vegas. Since the hotel rooms had been booked incorrectly, I was forced to stay in a hotel about a mile away and walk to the convention. I wasn’t bothered. I simply walked the mile, praying the whole way.
One morning, I overtook a drunken bum staggering along the sidewalk. He obviously had been up all night, looking as if he might also be a street person. In passing I said simply, “Jesus loves you and has a great plan for your life.”
As I continued on my way, the Bible’s words came to mind – “God is no respecter of persons.” The soul of that man was just as important to God as that of the queen of Great Britain, movie star, famous athlete or corporate president.
Just then, I finally understood. It’s just a number’s game. When we make a Gospel (good news) successful sales presentation, and explain the Jesus’ benefits to enough people no matter whom they are, some will be led to God and eternal salvation, some won’t. So, don’t worry about rejection or your hurt feelings! With eternal salvation as a reward, our feelings just don’t matter. After all . . .
