March 2012

Not2Be Confused

I listened to a recent radio broadcast of a college basketball game. The teams were moving up and down the court at a fevered pace. There was lots of movement and action – not any scoring. This went on for a few minutes and the announcer said something that caught my ear. He said, “Don’t ever confuse activity with accomplishment,” and it hit me.

In commerce - especially in sales and business development – that statement is the key to staying ahead of economic struggles and downturns. For years, I have encouraged Account Managers and Clients to review --- really review --- their prospect lists.

There is another big benefit…

Prescription4Change

Account Managers used to hold up their long list of prospective clients – kind of like a shield – to show me how much they had going and how hard they were working. Over time I learned to help my team evaluate how genuinely interested their prospects were in working with them. It didn’t take long for all involved to determine the list wasn’t as promising as the Account Manager would have hoped.

Never confuse a big prospect list with a good one.

It was scary for the reps to let go of some of the accounts they were working on, but the reality of figuring out who was really interested freed them up to go out and pursue other businesses. That ultimately led to them finding better and more interested prospects. They had a fresh start.

How about you? When was the last time you honestly evaluated who you were targeting?