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Every prospect you have approached has cost you time and effort. You made an investment of knowledge, skill, and ability. Your investment has a definite cash value, and no one can actually realize it but you. The Bible tells that the stones that were cast away were the stones that became the cornerstones. Before you discard, endeavor to make another deal; you may find experience that will enhance your selling ability. You may uncover a prospect in whom you had only the remotest hope and turn him into one of your best cus- tomers. This has happened to me many times. Once I had a prospect buried so deep in the file that the card bearing his name was yellow when I removed it from the folder. I 110 ACCUMULATED VALUE OF SALES EFFORT decided to take another chance, and it "paid off"—I made one of the best sales of my entire selling career. Don't give up the ship, even though it seems to be sinking. Therefore, in concluding this chapter, let me suggest that you make a complete analysis of your sales effort. By all means endeavor to set up a system to record all your past performances and analyze each experience. Watch for that flash of intuition that may bring you a hunch about an im- portant lead that may be easily turned into a sale. Do not undervalue the prospect's ability and willingness to buy. Then utilize the knowledge and experience that you gain by making use of the principles outlined in this chapter. It might interest you to know that if, in 1492, Columbus had deposited one dollar in the Bank of America at 4 per cent interest, compounded annually, by 1954 that dollar would have accumulated enough dollar bills to reach from New York to London. This hypothetical example only shows once more how things accumulate. It will pay you to trans- fer the dormant ideas of accumulated experience from the Bank of Past Performances over to an active checking ac- count in the Bank of Sales Completed. This privilege lies within your domain. Make use of it. FOURTEEN, |
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