Don Mastrangelo is the author of "Ready, Set, Sell! and Team Leader at GPS Heroes

Since we launched GPS Heroes I have devoted half of my personal productive time to the role of entry-level salesperson in my effort to “Lead by Example”. I have really enjoyed the opportunity to once again practice what I preach. I love to put myself in the shoes of the newest salesperson, faced with the challenge of reaching out to a fresh prospect list to promote a product or service. It’s healthy for those in sales leadership positions to hear 80% of prospects tell them “NO” in the many ways that two-letter word can be verbalized. For me, it is wonderful to keep track of the results and see the smaller percentages of “Warm” and “Hot” prospecting call results pop up randomly, and always at the predicted numbers.  It’s a lot like playing a slot machine – the majority of “pulls” pay nothing, but sometimes you win a few coins and occasionally a big score. In sales however, when you continue to work the numbers you are absolutely guaranteed to win!

Here’s a little tip for those in the heat of battle – I call it the “Three Strikes and They’re Out!” rule. Let’s say you decide to “complete” 10 prospecting calls in a given period of time. A completed call means that you actually spoke a prospect about our program to determine if they have an interest. According to Pareto’s Law or the 80/20 Rule, you will have had to walk through about five doors or made five phone attempts to actually reach one decision maker (20 percent of the total). Therefore, you will make 50 attempts to attain your goal of completing 10 prospecting calls.

If you were not able to complete the prospecting call, you should wait until the next day and try to reach the decision maker again. Again, only after speaking with the decision maker will you be able to determine whether this prospect is cold, warm, or hot. If you do not get through on your first attempt, leave your message and consider that Strike One for this prospect. Try again the next day. If the decision maker is out or does not take your call, that’s Strike Two. He gets one more chance to find out how you can help him. After three attempts to reach the decision maker without success, you can usually assume that the prospect is not interested and just doesn’t want to talk with you. This isn’t always the case, but I have found it is better to write him off and keep prospecting than to continue trying to get through to someone who is just not interested. This prospect is cold — move on! You are not trying to make prospects something that they are not.

Three strikes and they’re out! It is amazing how empowered you feel when you are willing to walk away from a prospect, knowing that you don’t need them because you are willing to work the numbers. When you are in the heat of battle and plowing through the numbers your confidence comes through in your voice. On Strike Three I leave a message such as “Hi Joe, Don again – hey, I won’t be calling you back again so if you do have an interest in my program now or in the future I’ll leave it to you to contact me – thanks very much!”

This past week I actually received calls back from two different decision makers – after I wrote them off with their third strike – wanting more information. One of them asked me if I might be available to teach his sales staff a lesson in persistence and follow-up.   What fun.

Don Mastrangelo is the author of "Ready, Set, Sell! and Team Leader at GPS Heroes

The goal of every GPS Heroes Consultant is extremely simple:  Sell 20 units to end-user customers (400PBV) and teach eight others to do the same.  At 400 Personal Business Volume you have built a solid retail business, and met the Personal Volume requirement to take you all the way to Executive Director – now all you need is to build your Team and Group Volume, and that is done simply by showing others how to sell 20 units like you did.  It really could not be simpler – your 20 units can be sold to parents of teen drivers, outdoor enthusiasts, parents of young children, adult children with elderly parents, fleet owners, pilots etc.  Any combination that gets you to 20 units does the job!  Once you’ve sold your 20 units you will feel great, knowing that you did what you set out to do, it was not that hard, and your customers are loving the system and results!  Now you are a true leader and your group will follow your example.

So how to sell 20 units?  When someone asks you “What do you do?”, what is your answer?  Let me suggest “I’m a GPS Tracking Consultant” as your answer.  If that simple answer does not result in a discussion I don’t know what will!  Continue with “I help fleet owners, families and outdoor enthusiasts to protect what matters most to them – do you have children at home?”  Everyone either has children at home, has grown children, has a parent, or knows someone who does.  You will be amazed at how each individual you talk to will come up with a need for your product either for themselves or someone they know, and now the door could not be open wider for you.

Remember to always lead with our product, not our opportunity – but you will also find that many of the people you engage with this conversation will ask YOU about the opportunity!  So take the pressure off of yourself and be ready to answer that simple question that comes up everytime you meet someone new – “What do you do?”