How To Get What You Want More Quickly.

There are only 3 answers, Yes, No or Not Right Now.

I always prefer a quick no over a long maybe.  If you believe the universe is conspiring to help you and that all things happen for your benefit, it’s good to dispense with the distractions that keep you from being on the right path.  

We all need to be in business where the rails of revenue are well lubricated with a mutual benefit. The sooner those opportunities are identified and closed, the faster our business will grow. 

More sliding, less friction is best and most fun. Reaching company objectives must be about solidified deals and business transactions more than boasting of an array of targets. Let’s not linger.

I’ve learned how to ask people at boat shows if they brought their checkbooks and are actually going to buy. I do this in seconds.  If they’re just there to lick ice cream cones I politely give them that moment without comprising their culinary experience.  

There’s no time to waste in being the matchmaker for memorable boating experiences with the right buyers. And non buyers don’t need me waxing poetically about how great my boats are.  It’s like magnets looking for matching poles and repelling non matching poles.

Learning how to swiftly jettison those who are never going to buy or who will be a bad partner makes you a wiser, more effective business warrior. Even the Good Book offers up invaluable prophetic advice, He who hesitates is lost. Taking action on decisions that speed you across the finish line is a plan endorsed across the ages.

You might ask whether dismissing a potential buyer too soon creates a missed opportunity.  Technique is everything.  How many times have you responded, “Just looking” when you are absolutely there to buy? It’s because the wrong questions get asked.  

To fully qualify a potential buyer these must be defined: desire, purchase capacity, timeline.  In other words, getting a quick answer to, “Are you interested in this?”, “Do you have the means to purchase?”, “Are you ready to buy now?” are crucial questions.  These must be tendered in lieu of, “Can I help you?”. 

Armed with the right answers you can decide whether to pursue a close or move on to another buyer who just needs guidance to the check out. For me, because I sell expensive goods, I focus on purchase capacity. “Did you bring your checkbook?” Flushes out true buyers quickly.  Unavailable funds renders downstream questions useless. Selling time is not infinite.  A professional moves quickly like a ninja, the amateur stumbles, succumbing to fear and hesitation.

Fear squelches asking for the close because it’s easier to tend the garden than actually pick the fruit. In most cases, buyers know if they’re going to buy long before the sale is asked for.  So get to the point quickly. Ask revealing questions. Listen carefully. 

The real window is open momentarily, repeated studies show human beings have a diminishing attention span. Fear of asking the right questions stagnates progress.  “Maybe” is an illusion of possible business.

Have you seen the new corvette? Yes, it’s understandable if you want that. When my wife buys a new dress, she knows she likes it in a nano second.  Your mind makes decisions in a blink.  

Think of all the things you buy. In most cases a sales person’s role is more transactional than selling. No, you need to know how you’re going to buy it, cash or finance? In the psycho sphere, buying decisions are like lightening strikes, yes or no decisions happen quickly. The selling process is merely the tribal dance around that decision. Anyone thinking this process is longer than that is fooling themselves.  

The key as a sales person is being at that crossroads in time where the buyer is ready. The keen witness of opportunity strikes smoothly, offering up the transactional details once the decision is clear.

The trick is knowing what you want. A clear objective means you can cast off choices that don’t take you to your goal.  The Zen interpretation of the long maybe means it’s not in your best interest. The sooner you can identify the clearest path to your finish line, the easier it is to make regret-free decisions.  Investing hope in winless scenarios sucking up time with no results only steals from other potentially greater outcomes.

Before this out-of-work homeless actor was living in the New York subway, he claimed his father was abusive and his mother only kissed him twice as a child. After getting rickets and being heavily bullied he retaliated by acting out, resulting in being kicked out of 13 schools by the time he was 12. Told his brain was “dormant” he started body building.  

To survive being homeless he cleaned cages at the Central Park Zoo and sold stolen jewelry.  At a particular low point, being unable to buy food, he sold his dog Butkus for $25. Inspired by watching a boxing match between Muhammed Ali and Chuck Wepner two weeks later, he wrote a movie script in a non-stop 20 hour writing frenzy.

Despite being broke, he turned down multiple offers to buy the script for up to $350,000. Told he “looked funny and talked funny,” no studio would meet his non-negotiable demand of starring as the main actor. A studio finally relenting, in 1977 Rocky would win Best Picture, Best Directing and Best Film Editing Oscars with Sylvester Stallone being nominated for Best Actor.   

Stallone had a clear objective. What if he had hesitated? What if he had lost sight of his goal?  He could have easily become mired in lost hope by not staying on the path of action and disregarding those diversions that slow or kill the dream.

We’re all trying to get to Yes via the most expeditious route. So the faster you get No behind you the better. Tending a garden of leads in the maybe status is a sure way to waste finite time that could be better spent.