Savvy Sales Managers Know Call Backs Don't Count!


By Dr. Gary S. Goodman


Recently, you hired someone who seems to have all of the enthusiasm in the world.

In tracking his performance you can’t help but notice that he has (1) Either no sales, yet; or (2) Very few sales; fewer than expected.

You ask what’s up, and he replies that he has “A ton of call backs.”

Because he’s so upbeat, you figure that he’s on track, and his optimism will be rewarded with a good number of sales, as he calls into his growing database of leads.

But you’re probably being conned.

Call backs are not sales.

You know that, but you also know “The Math of Success,” that says if you put enough prospects into a sales pipeline, plenty will emerge as sales at the other end.

The flaw in this thinking is that those call backs were ever “prospects” to begin with.

New, and inexperienced, and deceitful salespeople define prospects in the fuzziest of ways.

For instance, if you call someone and his secretary says he isn’t in, is that a prospect? No, that is a suspect.

That name has no more value than one that you haven’t called, yet.

If that same secretary gave you vital information about her boss’s needs, or said she’d put in a good word for you, or actually placed your call back on the calendar, that’s a good suspect; better than someone you haven’t called, but less than a prospect.

A prospect is a buyer who says: “I have a need; it’s important; and I’ll consider using your firm to fulfill it. Give me a proposal!”

The sales rep that builds a mountain of false prospects will find he has no time for calling cold names, yet his odds of getting through to the ones that are not yet reached do not improve. He imbues them with qualities that they don’t have, only because he has seen the names multiple times, and has noted them in his follow-up system.

Call backs simply don’t count.

So, when you hear a salesperson making more out of them, doubt his judgment; and if you believe him, doubt yours!


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