August 27th was an interesting day.
Remember A Real Sales Conversation? I don't think that I ever told you that Mr. Curious hired me 4 days later on April 2nd. We worked together for three months. Yesterday we had this exchange on Google Hangouts.
Mr. Curious: Hi Rick. So far this month I've closed 24k in new biz. 1 more pending.
Me: Woo hoo! Congratulations! Best month ever?
Mr. Curious: Leads from prospecting and referrals. Yes, I think in my career. lol. There's more in the pipeline too.
Me: Very cool! How's your girl friend like the new you?
Mr. Curious: :-) Very much
Best in career? Awesome! I live for comments like that!
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On 8/25, Mr. X filled out the form on Do you want to be last? He wrote, "I want to be last. I'm at the $3k-$4k a month range right now and six figures would be amazing! I believe that great and honest coaching will get me there." We talked. He hasn't sold anything in a year. He believes his confidence is shot. In our first follow-up email exchange, I pointed out that he, his boss and I had spoken last January. He replied, "In hindsight, I should’ve probably sold one of my kidneys in order to pay for that training because I’m sure I would have benefitted"
In our second email exchange, he wrote, "my family deserves a better life. My wife deserves the honeymoon destination she really wanted, my daughter deserves the opportunity to get the education that she wants without having to worry about going into debt, my mom deserves the retirement life of her dreams and I deserve the pride and joy of seeing all these things come to fruition."
...but not enough to find the money to hire me.
The real problem is that Mr. X was a bad hire and his boss can't help him. He has the wrong sales experience and can't make the transition without the help of someone who's been there.
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Finally, one of the most insightful thoughts that a prospect shared was, "we don't know what we don't know. We are obviously researching but some people are just way too ahead on the game."
So, Mr. X is gone. Do you want to be last?