You're probably like most sales people - but you DON'T have to be

I got a postcard in the mail the other day, and I have to say, even though it didn't tell me anything that I didn't already know deep inside, it's made quite an impression on me.

The postcard simply said "Sales Statistics" and then listed some interesting numbers below.  How accurate these are, I cannot vouch for, but I did do some follow up research and it seems this stats on this postcard are not out of line.

Three of the lines were particularly compelling:

48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect.

That's almost half!  It seems almost unthinkable and yet you know it's true.  Ask yourself, honestly, how many times have you talked to someone just once, but then never followed up because you didn't want to "bother" them?

Only 10% of sales people make more than three contacts

Think about that one.  If you just contact your lead more than 3 times that puts you in a slim minority of the most successful salespeople.  That really narrows your competition, doesn't it? What an easy way to stand out from the crowd...just be tenacious enough to contact somebody more than three times.

80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact.

However, even if you're in that tiny minority of sales people who contact your lead more than three times, you're still letting sales slip through your grasp if you stop at four.  That's because 80 percent of the sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact. This goes back to another principle: People like doing business with people who have earned their business.

The Sale of YOU

And what I'm considering a "sale" here isn't necessarily the actual sale of a house.  What I'm talking about the first sale.  That's the sale of YOU...of you convincing (or selling) someone to use you as their real estate agent.   After that, if you know your "stuff," the rest will take care of itself.