Ryan Dohrn uses Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler" to argue that knowing when to walk away matters as much as persistence in sales. He shares a re-engagement tactic: email a prospect "Did you fire me?" to test if they're still interested. Relentless pursuit wastes time and sanity.
Hey friends, Ryan Dorn here, your sales coach. Are you familiar with the late, great Kenny Rogers, country western singer? Maybe a song called The Gambler. Have you heard that song? One of the verses from that song, or maybe it's the chorus of the song, says, you got to know when to fold them, know when to hold them, know when to walk away, know when to run. Okay, that's, that's the verse of the song. Why is this important to sales? Because every sales trainer out there other than me, every sales coach would say, never give up, sink your teeth teeth into it. Never let go. You know what, sometimes, friends, you got to know when to walk away. You got to know when to fold those cards. You got to know when to run. So how do you know? Well, sometimes it's an educated guess and sometimes just based on facts or figures. One of the subject lines that I like to use if a client has gone dark on me is, did you fire me? And the body of the email is kind of joking, but it says, hi Bob, did you fire me? Because I haven't heard from you and maybe I did something that caused you to fire me. I just would like to know what's the update on that project. Sometimes, friends, you just got to know when to walk away. And there's nothing wrong with that. Just don't do it all the time. But sometimes sinking your teeth in, what it means is you're wasting a tremendous amount of time. Oh, but Ryan, this one time I worked this client for 7 years and finally sold them. Okay, record that, listen back to that, and you'll realize how crazy it really sounds. Sometimes, friends, you gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away. Sometimes you gotta know when to run just to maintain your sanity in the sales business. Friends, remember, if sales was easy, everybody'd be doing it, and they're not. So we're either crazy, which is possible, or we found a career that'll feed our families for a lifetime. All right, friends, I'm Ryan Dohrn. Find out what I can do for you and for your company over at my website, ryandohrn.com. We'll see you next time.
