By Jeffrey Mayer

Want to increase your sales productivity and close a higher percentage of your sales? Then stop chasing people who aren’t good prospects.

A great example of this principal is a telephone sales rep I recently worked with named Shirley. Her company sells software for home builders that helps them cut their design and estimating costs. (How's that for an Elevator Speech?)

She has worked for the company for eight years and has been doing very well, but knew she could do much better. As the 80/20 rule states, 80 percent of Shirley's business was coming from just 20 percent of her prospects.

So, in effect, she wasn't using her time very effectively, 80 percent of which was spent trying to close customers who weren't buying. Shirley wanted to learn how to better qualify her prospects so she could quickly separate the buyers from the tire-kickers. This would enable her to spend more time with people who were going to buy, less time with those who weren't and, thus, more time on the phone looking for more customers.

Shirley’s scenario

Whenever an inquiry comes in for the company's software, Shirley's assistant sends out a brochure and demonstration software. When Shirley makes follow-up calls on these leads, more often than not she gets voice mail. She used to leave a message that said in part, "I was calling to see if you had received our demonstration software package," but it often took three or four attempts before she finally reached her prospects.

At my suggestion, Shirley changed her voice mail message. Why? Because her focus was wrong. Rather than inquiring about the quality of the USPS's delivery methods, she now says she’s calling to discuss ways in which the prospect's company can save time, improve productivity and make more money. It goes something like this: "You recently requested a demo copy of our software that helps builders cut their design and estimating costs. I was calling to schedule a telephone meeting so I could explain how we can save you time and reduce your costs."

Shirley was now having more success with her telephone meetings with her prospects, but she was still having a problem closing the sale. Her prospects didn't say "no," but they didn't say "yes" either, so she continued to follow up for days, weeks or months on end.

Here's a perfect example of how her time was wasted. Tom, a prospect, called and requested information about the software, which was sent out that day. A week later Shirley and Tom spoke on the phone. He showed a lot of interest and asked a lot of questions, but was non-committal about buying and told her to call again next week.

When Shirley called the next Thursday morning, Tom wasn't around, so she left a message he didn’t return. The following week Shirley called Tom again, who apologized and said he still had more technical questions. So Shirley scheduled another telephone meeting with Tom and her top technical person for Wednesday. This time Tom kept the appointment and asked lots of very detailed questions for the better part of an hour.

At the end of the meeting, Shirley asked Tom if he wanted to buy the software. He was non-committal again and said she should call him in a week or so because he needed more time to think about it. So Shirley did and left another message, to no avail. She tried a few more times and finally reached him three weeks later. He complimented her on all the features of her wonderful program, but when she asked for the order, Tom said he needed to discuss it with his partner and that she should call him in another week.

What to do now?

At this point Shirley asked me what she should do. I told her she didn't have a prospect and that it's time to move on. She protested that she had invested so much time with Tom and felt that if she called him a few more times she would close him.

"That's the problem," I said. "Because you're investing so much time trying to close Tom, you're not giving yourself the opportunity to call on and meet new prospects who would be interested in actually buying your software, instead of asking lots of questions, having you jump through hoops and taking up not only your time, but your tech guy's time as well.”

I also asked Shirley what she knew about Tom's business and what questions she’d asked him — questions like:

• What kinds of homes does he build?
• How many employees does he have?
• What is his position/title at the company?
• How much business do they do each year?
• Are they having a good or bad year?
• How much money do they make on each job?
• How do they go about calculating the costs of construction?
• Since he’s a partner, what is the other partner’s name?
• What are each partner's duties and responsibilities?
• And finally, why does Tom even need to buy your software?"

After what seemed like an eternity, Shirley said very softly, "I don't have the answer to any of the questions you just asked."

Most salespeople spend all of their time telling the prospect about their company, their products and services and why they're so much better than their competition. The prospect may ask a lot of questions, or just nod his head in what appears to be agreement, when in reality he's just being polite and acknowledging that he's heard what was said.

The end of the story

So what happened? Shirley stopped calling on Tom and began looking for better prospects — and within days she was finding them. She started asking more and better questions, and in no time at all her business picked up. She got so good at it that in a 10 to 15 minute phone call she knew whether or not her prospect was going to become a paying customer.

In sales, you must get a commitment every step of the way. When a prospect fails to give you a commitment, which could be as little as scheduling another meeting, it's an indication that something in the sales process has gone wrong.

Yes, you should follow up with interested buyers, but stop chasing people who won't make a commitment. Instead, spend your time looking for people who are in the market to buy — and stop wasting your time with the tire kickers.