A few weeks ago, we talked about something called “The Dip.” The term comes from Seth Godin’s worthwhile book, The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick). Go to Corsini’s “The Dip” blog to read more.
In a nutshell, “the Dip” is a setback of some sort or another that causes you to lose valuable momentum and your desire and determination to push through to the success you seek.
Lots of times when people encounter “the Dip,” they rather quickly abandon their efforts. Now, sometimes you should quit and cut your losses, but even then you need to consider the situation carefully. Most times—especially with important goals, like signing a large, lucrative customer—you absolutely need to work through that “Dip” and come out on the other side and ahead.
Let’s look at a Dip encounter.
Say you’re going after your competitor’s big customer, and you manage to set up a meeting with the decision-maker at that company. The meeting goes well, but she says they are happy with their current supplier (your competition). She appreciates your input, and if anything changes she will let you know.
This is not yet a Dip (well, maybe it’s a small one). You’re just getting a foot in the door. You’ve not built up much momentum or traction, but you do have one more immediate and legitimate reason to get back in touch with the decision-maker to say thank you: You should write her a thank-you note. Yes, a real and personalized thank-you note. Put pen to nice paper! This should help you move past any initial small Dip.
Then you should stay in touch. Keep this company in your sights, and find opportunities to “drip” information to them. Share news of industry advances that might positively impact their business. Give them real reasons to keep you in mind. You’re not going to win them over by forwarding jokes, taking them out to dinner or any of the other old-school ways. Your movement forward is going to come from developing an authentic relationship and demonstrating value.
Let’s say you do this and eventually you get to the point of sending the decision-maker a price/quote. She didn’t ask for it, but you pushed (politely) and got the proposal in front of her. Just the fact that she’s looking at it seems like a positive thing.
And then … nothing.
Here’s your Dip.
You worked hard on that proposal! You’ve put in a lot of time over the past year or so touching base and trying to build a relationship. You’re discouraged. You might even feel resentful. Certainly, you are ready to just quit (this Dip is not a good place to be). At this point, about 95% of salespeople will stop what they’re doing and go back to the safety of their regular customers.
You should work through this Dip because the opportunity is impressive. As Godin writes in his book: Winners realize that the bigger the barrier, the bigger the reward for getting past it.
Besides, your work is not finished. You haven’t given this company any big reason to change, and, as we all know, change is disruptive. People tend to avoid it. You need to figure out the pain or the reward that will make this company leave the competition and come to you.
And you need to be patient and stay in touch and continue to add value to the relationship you’ve built. You didn’t get to the Dip overnight, and you might not get over it immediately either. If you’re going to go after big accounts—especially those that are comfortably held by your competition—you need to think long-term. It might take several more years to win this business. But stick with it.
This is called working through the Dip.
If you continue to call something will change eventually, and your opportunity will come. It might be a change at that company or a change with your competitor or maybe your own company comes up with something really great that the customer cannot resist. The thing is, you’ll have to be present to take advantage of this.
Work hard and work smart with unwavering focus on the things that really matter. That’s how you sell through a Dip. That’s how you do what you do better.
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