We get lazy. We start cutting corners. We get off our game. We chill, cruise and take the foot off the pedal. Sales is demanding and a life of constant pressure. The temptation is when we get to a certain level of success we think well, we have done enough. We can justify that coffee break, that longer lunch, coming in late after the first mid-morning appointment and heading home early after the last early afternoon appointment. This is not how the pro thinks.

We should be getting our hustle on, getting our motivation going, setting out sights high. We have to have a showdown with “average is good enough” self talk. We need to make sure we are doing the basics like a demon on fire.

The pipeline tells no lies. It is either looking good or it is looking bad. That pipeline will determine the amount of business we can do in any given quarter and in any year. We need good basics in play to stuff that pipeline full of qualified clients.

There are basics in sales we quickly try to short circuit. We are fooling ourselves. We need to have time allocation every day for prospecting. In the process of doing that, we should be polishing our pitch until it is tight and has a massive hook attached to it.

We need to be parsimonious with the words to explain all of that. We need to be eloquent with the explanation of the hook, as to why the person answering the phone should bother to connect us with the line manager we wish to speak with.

Every industry needs a specific hook, based on the pain points of that business. The pitch is canned and not canned at the same time. It has some common elements which are the best composed explanation of who we are, etc. The why you should care part, needs to be specific to that industry, the sector, the market, the firm in question at this point in time.

We need to treat every lead coming in from our website, be it from an SEO enquiry or a paid click though from our ads like it was on fire. If we don’t get in touch with that potential buyer right now, the lead will combust further and become a burnt, unrecognisable cinder. Soon it will be too cold and too feeble to sustain the follow up call required.

We have to fight complacency. The enemy of great is good. So no being satisfied with good is allowed! Don’t forget our sale’s pro basics need constant work, permanent polishing, endless eagerness.