Andy NearyI help insurance professionals turn brand awareness into business growth.

Don't Sell Out of Desperation ... SERVE First and the Sales Will Follow

5 Apr 2020 · 2 min

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2:13

Andy Neary recounts a personal sales anecdote to argue against selling out of desperation. He describes being 27, sitting in an Alterra coffee shop in Milwaukee one December with three weeks left in the year and being 70% behind his sales goal. Neary warns that desperation makes sellers focus on potential loss, which reduces success and sounds desperate to clients. He advises salespeople, especially during short-term downturns, to stop pushing new sales and instead over-serve existing clients for the next two to four weeks; by building that foundation, sales will follow when conditions normalize.

Questions this video answers

April 5, 2020.

27 years old.

At an Alterra coffee shop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

70% behind his goal.

In December, with about three weeks left in the year.

Chapters

So sales today, literally in this moment, reminds me of where I was like 15 years ago. Let me paint you a picture. I was 27 years old. I sucked at sales. And I was very desperate at sales to tell you how bad it was. I can remember sitting at a Alterra coffee shop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on a cold winter December afternoon and about three weeks ago in the year, and I was looking at my sales goals for the year. Sales results for the year end with three weeks to go. I was 70% behind my goal. That's how bad I was.
And when you live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the middle of the winter, good luck paying an electric bill when you're 70% behind your goal. And I realized how desperate I was in sales when I was young, because I would go into every sales opportunity thinking about what might happen if I didn't win that business. I would actually be focused on the loss versus focusing on the opportunity and the potential win. And I realized when you're desperate and you're focusing on potentially not winning, all that happens is you don't win. And you sound desperate. Every next sale you try to make, you get even more desperate. And that's what's happening right now. I'm talking to a lot of people in sales who sound desperate. Why? They're fearing loss. They're fearing that their existing clientele is going to shrink given the situation. They're fearing that their clients are laying off employees left and right. Therefore their revenue is going to shrink and it's resulting in desperate sales. So here's my advice for the next two, three, four weeks. I wouldn't focus on selling. I'd focus on over servicing your existing clients because they need your help, they need your guidance. And let's be honest, no one's going to be buying that much in the next two, three, four weeks. So my advice to you is stop sounding desperate. Focus on building a foundation, and if you over service your existing clients, the sales will follow when we all get back to this sense of norm. So over serve now, sales follow later.