Many parents have a difficult time letting go. It's difficult to watch your youngster leave for the first day of school, and it's equally as heart-wrenching when your kid leaves home and strikes out on her own. However, good parents understand the importance of letting their kids go when the time comes.
This concept applies to sales, too. A sales rep asked me how to handle a situation involving a prospect he had been "working," who told him "thanks, but no thanks." The rep thought he should continue making periodic calls or sending emails, just in case the prospect changed his mind.
When we reviewed the prospect's email, it was evident that he had zero interest in the rep's product, so I recommended that he cut the prospect loose. "Yeah, but what if…?"
I shook my head and said, "Let him go. Focus on finding someone who is interested. It's a much better use of your time." Great salespeople spend as much time disqualifying prospects from their pipeline as they do asking good discovery questions — because they know and understand the value of their time.
