by Will Rotondi
I recently attempted to join the ranks of fellow grillers in the world and break in my Weber. It had been kindly, patiently waiting in storage for the better part of four months, not just for the weather to improve, but also for the fact that it takes me a while to get in the mood to try something new.
Assembly was longer than expected. Getting ingredients didn’t happen on the day I’d planned. Then I came to learn I was short on a few necessary cooking implements. Finally, late one evening, I gave it a whirl – and burned through half my coals doing the prep work.
I say all of this to point out that expectations you have with certain activities – particularly those with a lot of moving parts, and that take time – often don’t meet with the reality of the situation. Such is the case when you prospect. It’s the same whether you’re trying to get someone on the phone, or introduce yourself through email.
Even though we’ve found email prospecting to be the more effective of the two, that doesn’t mean that people are opening our messages and immediately wanting to do business. That rarely, if ever, happens. That’s because what we offer, just like what you offer, isn’t an over-the-counter product that you can make a gut reaction to purchase, try out, and return if you don’t end up liking it.
It’s an investment, and investments need to be evaluated. You already know how long it probably takes your average sales lead to say yes. Now think about how long it took before that lead even learned about who you are, what you do, and gave your company a second thought.
Give prospecting time to work. Don’t do like I did and use up most of the heat before the burgers even touch the grill.
