Never kid yourself just to feel better

8th September 2011

How often do you tell yourself that you have got more business coming in than you really have? Perhaps you recognise the scenario where you look at your sales figures and think it looks a bit gloomy, but then comfort yourself with all the “what if’s”. In other words you include all your leads and potential customers in your figures, and suddenly everything looks quite rosy after all. Being an eternal optimist I often find myself doing this, but then check myself and take a more pragmatic view. What if only half of them come through, or worse, none at all?

Of course this is the sensible way to approach things. If you assume the worst, it keeps you hungry, and it should inspire you to take more action to make sure that first, you generate more leads, and secondly, you convert more of the leads you get. If you convince yourself that everything is OK without chasing things up or ensuring that they are converted, you can easily become complacent, and then suddenly find it is too late.

Sometimes it can be a case of not wanting to chase a lead too hard for fear of frightening them off, or it can be a genuine belief that the lead will be ringing back immediately, because that said they would (and surely it must be their No.1 priority). However, you should remember that just because it is foremost in your mind it is probably way down their list of importance, and you will need to jog their memory to ensure you get the sale.

So don’t wait for things to happen, and assume that customers will flock to your door. The only way to ensure you keep your sales up, is through plenty of action and hard work. Make sure you follow up all your leads, and only count the sales once the money is in your bank account.

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