This week’s daily dose of inspiration is inspired by my pony Thistle and how she behaved this morning. Every day I take the horses breakfast and as usual the ponies – Bracken and Thistle – finished first. (Partly because they are greedy and wolf the food down but also to be fair they do get smaller portions!).
Well after Thistle had finished her breakfast this morning she approached Toby and asked him if she could share his breakfast. Toby’s initial response was NO WAY. He barred his teeth and then moved his hind quarters round and tried to kick her. However, undeterred Thistle kept asking and after some time Toby finally acquiesced and let her breakfast with him.
Watching Thistle’s persistence in asking for what she wanted got me thinking about business and how often we don’t persist in asking for what we want. How often do you ask a potential client for the sale and just because you don’t get an answer you assume that they don’t want your services? If you are like me, I know I am guilty of thinking that. And then you know I simply don’t follow up with that prospect again.
This is a foolhardy strategy and one that means that I am always out seeking new prospects. What if those clients were right there under my nose but I just hadn’t asked them enough times if they needed my services?.
One of the joys and also challenges of the times we live in is the abundance of information we have at our finger tips. This is both a blessing and a curse, as if often means we are drowning in data and information. What if that prospect actually wanted your services but had just missed your email. What a wasted opportunity for both of you.
In a previous blog post Persist as The Money is in the Follow Up I share how 80% of sales are made on the 5th to 12th contact and this reminded me of what my mentor Clinton Swaine told me: “Ask six times for exactly what you want”. Just because you get a No the first time doesn’t means that you will always get a No. Thistle demonstrated this just perfectly this morning. She knew exactly what she wanted and kept asking until she got it.
And increasingly I am finding in business that people rarely respond to a first request. In fact a know a number of people that actually won’t respond to a first request. They know that if the person is serious they will ask again, and if they fail to then they know that either that person wasn’t committed to wanting to work with them. I find that quite a sobering thought!.
So I’d love you to think about the number of times you have failed to ask for what you wanted at least six times. Make a list of all these people and situations and then reach out to these people again. They might just be waiting to hear from you. After all persistence is the key to success. So be tenacious and you might surprised at the results.
So what are you waiting for. Get into action now and let me know in the in the Facebook group how you get on.
Julia Felton (aka The Business Wrangler) is the founder of Business HorsePower. Business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives hire her to accelerate their business performance by harnessing the energy of their people to work more collaboratively together. By aligning purpose with actions the team achieves exponential results as everyone starts pulling in the same direction.
Julia believes that business is a force for good and through designing purpose-driven businesses that leverage the laws of nature, and the herd, you can create businesses founded on the principles of connection, collaboration and community that make a significant impact in the world.
