Money isn’t everything, but….

I’ve been broke and I’ve been flush. Flush is better.

Fake it ’til you make it.

As you may know, I network a bit. It’s not unusual for me to be in a room with 2-300 other salespeople, smiling, shaking hands, swapping business cards, shmoozing, 2-3 times a week. Sometimes I just watch and shake my head. Engineers go to engineering school. Franchisees get ‘trained’ at the home office. CPA’s and lawyers have to get licensed. Contractors learn their trade (apprentice, journeyman, master). Photographers, decorators, web designers, IT consultants, etc. learn to do what they do, BUT…………………how many of them go to ‘sales school’?

Seriously, how many of them are gonna exchange business cards and never speak with that person again because they can’t get the person on the phone? How many of those experts are going to need three sales meetings to get a ‘one call close’ done? How many of those business owners are going to have to discount their price to get the business?

Then I got to wondering how many of those people started their business with the idea that they were going to make $100-200,000 a year. Then I got to wondering how many of them were reaching their goal.

Ready? According to the U.S. Census, at least 80% of U.S. households didn’t make it in 2006 and it could be as high as 96%. Flip it around by saying, “19.1% of U.S. households earned over $100K and only 3.5% of the households earned over $200K.” Here’s the source.

I was reminded of this post.

So, if you ever see me shaking my head at a networking event, don’t ask. I probably just watched one of the 80% miss a buying signal and walk away or agree to call the following week even though the prospect’s body language said, “Welcome to voice mail jail!” All that education wasted because they don’t want to learn how to sell effectively.