Stay in Motion...Moving Targets Get the Hits!

My Mom and Dad had this Norman Rockwell Gone Fishing print in their house years ago when I was a child (I'm not sure if it made the move to the new house- perhaps it's buried in the basement with my 1987 Topps baseball card collection). When I tell people that I enjoy fishing I believe that they conjure up an image not too different than the one Mr. Rockwell painted.

Depicted is a passive angler (so passive he's asleep) with a bunch of lines in the water, motionless and presumably baited with worms that have been nibbled away by small panfish.

I've actually had days at the office that felt like this painting. I wasn't really sure which prospects to move along the sales cycle, so I passively sat at my desk and sent some letters and e-mails, and made some phone calls to assure my prospect that I was still there, dangling in front of them like a worm. And do you want to know how many deals I close on days like that? Probably one for every fish that old guy in the painting caught that hazy summer day. None.

Bass fishing, for the record, is nothing like the painting. It is an incredibly active, and sometimes exhausting sport. I don't have all of the Bass Pro statistics memorized, but I'm confident no one has ever caught a winning fish while sleeping. So while everyone may have an image in their heads of what fishing is... or what selling is (isn't it relaxing days on the golf course schmoozing clients?) the true professionals are in constant motion actively leading their prospects through the process.

Bass are not only visual feeders, but rely on motion detection as well.

Simply put, bass are virtually obligate motion detectors. To a bass, motion signals life and hence the possibility of food. Motionless objects are quickly classified as non-living and ignored.
- Knowing Bass, Keith A. Jones, PhD

That's why the pros are, themselves, in constant motion. Casting, reeling, casting, reeling. In the water the bass see motion and follow the opportunity. The lures, with each ripple through the strike zone, are taunting the bass... "hey, I'm a tasty live treat. I have so much to offer you. Come a little further this way..." Meanwhile the bass is thinking I better get a move on it or I'm going to miss this great opportunity. The whole time the pro is angling the fish toward the boat and is in control of his own tempo.

I've learned that the best sales people do the same thing. They present an opportunity and then begin directing (reeling) it back into the close. They control the timing and the tempo. Essentially they say to the prospect "I've got something of value for you and the time to act is now, so come a little further this way." They have created a sense of urgency.

Think about what motivates you to buy something. If you know that car you want is always going to be at zero percent financing do you jump right away? Heck no! But if that's the car you want and the zero percent financing ends this weekend you're going to get a move on it!

So instead of just making your sales pitch and leaving it in the prospects hands, find a reason to continually keep them moving toward the close. And if they don't budge, you can reel in and cast to another prospect! If you're not in constant motion you're going to end up with as many fish as the old man.