Eighty percent of success is showing up.

Copyright (c) 2007 Weiss Communications

The above quote, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.”
is from Woody Allen. It was particularly appropriate this
past weekend.

I went to take a dance class. My favorite teacher was back
in town for a short time. I was thrilled and ready to
dance! This teacher is incredibly talented, an excellent
dancer, good choreographer and her class is high energy and
fun! I had often wondered why she was not more successful
as a teacher or why she never got into a decent dance
company.

I rearranged my entire schedule to be there. So did a
number of her students. One cut short her holiday weekend
with her parents to get on a plane and fly back in time for
the class. Another rearranged her work schedule, going in
to work at 4:00 a.m. in order to be done in time for the
afternoon class.

The class never happened. My favorite teacher called in
“sick” at the last minute.

When she taught regularly in New York City this teacher had
a habit of canceling classes at the last minute. She’d been
gone for six months and was scheduled to teach only four
classes over the holidays. So far she’s only made it to the
first class. She called in sick for the second. Was she
sick? Perhaps and who cares?

I’ll never again rearrange my day to take her class. I know
several other dancers who also will never again rearrange
their days for her and even more dancers who will simply
never take her class again! Now I understand why this
teacher never got very far in the dance world.

I was raised on the old show business adage, “The show must
go on.” It has served me well. As a young dancer it was
drilled into my head that the audience didn’t care how I
felt. They were there to see me dance. They’d paid a lot of
money to see me dance and it was my responsibility to be at
my best, no matter how I felt.

While that “nobody cares how you feel” message may not be
the best message for a child, in business and in sales it’s
the truth.

Your prospects and customers want what they want when they
want it. It is your job to deliver. If you do not, they
will find another source.

The first rule of prospecting and selling: Show up.

Most sales are made between the 7th and 12th contact with a
prospect. Most sales people stop at about three to four
contacts. All you have to do to sell more is show up a few
more times!

Want to build trust and rapport? Show up. Keep showing up.
Do what you say you’re going to do when you say you’re
going to do it. No excuses. Prospects and customers like
and trust people who do what they say they’re going to do,
when they say they’re going to do it!

Want to close the sale? Show up and ask for the order. If
you do not get the order that time, show up and ask again.

It doesn’t matter how smart you are. It doesn’t matter how
talented you are. It doesn’t matter how great your product
is. If you don’t show up, nothing else counts.

—————————————————-
Wendy Weiss, “The Queen of Cold Calling,” is a sales
trainer, author and sales coach who helps you to gain
confidence, reach more prospects, close more sales and make
more money!  For free prospecting sales tips go to
http://www.wendyweiss.com