Selling Off The Court
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May 17, 2012

No longer does selling only take place during the prime business hours of Monday-Friday, 9am – 5pm.  With the accessibility of the Internet, selling has become a 24 hours a day, seven days a week event.  From websites to social media to phone applications, the business market has changed, and in order to succeed, it’s important that we adapt and keep up with the times.

While the final stage of the sales process, the close, typically takes place in front of the customer, the steps that made the sale happen were in the works long before any agreement was ever signed.  From the minute you introduce yourself to a prospect, the selling cycle begins, and before any prospect will work with you, you have to build credibility.  Before the Internet, credibility was built through person-to-person interactions.  Now, before you even meet your prospect face-to-face for the first time, they have already researched you and your company.

Think about the last time you bought a piece of electronic equipment.  How did you determine which brand you wanted to buy? What homework did you do on the product and what did you base your decision on?  If you’re like me, you probably went to Amazon.com or some other shopping site.  Researched the products.  Read the reviews, and probably, you took a peak at each company’s website.  Rarely in this process do you actually touch the actual product, but by the information available and the “image” presented by each company, you make a decision.

The selling process has changed, and unless we make the effort to keep up with the curve, we’ll be left behind.  Sales are no longer made in front of the customer.  One could argue that what happens behind the scenes can make or break the sale easier than the seller themselves, so ask yourself this question, “What am I doing off the court to ensure more sales on the court?”

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