Shopping, people and shoes

It's customer day (yep it's Wednesday)...

People complain because the last person they talked to didn't buy.


But finding people for your product is like shopping for shoes...

Lulu goes to Nordstrom to buy shoes. Pretend the store has 5,000 pairs of shoes. Those are the prospects.

Lulu says she wants shoes for herself. The moment she decided that, half the prospects got dumped. There are now 2,500 pairs of shoes left for her - the women's shoes.

Now she says she wants running shoes.

Take away about 75% of the women's shoes. That leaves 625 pairs.

And Lulu wants Nikes. Remove 70% of the women's running shoes. Leaves 188 pairs.

Lulu's a size 8. Remove 85%, leaving 28 pairs.

She also prefers white with silver trim. That knocks out another 75%, leaving 7 pairs of shoes.

The salesman brings those out, and she buys one pair.

Looking for customers or business reps is like shopping for shoes. Like shoes, there are many prospects, but only a few are the right fit.

How much time does the salesman spend forcing the wrong size shoe on your foot? And how would you react to such a salesperson?

Are you doing that to your prospects? Like Ford used to?