"So, what the heck is a 'head full of hope'? I heard the phrase for the first time while watching the miniseries 'Klondike.' Yes, I am a GOLD Rush freak!
I enjoy watching these guys prospect because prospecting is something I do on a daily basis. But finding GOLD, now that's a whole heck of a lot better than making 50 calls and getting a solid lead.
As a kid, I would often venture out on my own in the woods of Iselin, NJ, to see what I could find. I can remember a place called Fossil Rock, which was located next to the Parkway. Rumors had it that if you could find this rock, you'd be able to break pieces of the rock away to find fossils.
I never found the fossils because I never found the rock. But, I found many smaller rocks that were the hiding places of many critters, most of them being snakes. At first, I used to turn the rocks over by hand; I changed to using a big stick because one day I turned over a rock by hand, and a large snake scared the crap out of me! Heck, at 10 or 11 years old, I was on a mission to find what I could find.
In those days, I guess I could agree that I had a 'head full of hope' because I would leave in the morning with the belief that I would find old coins, treasure, snakes, or critters. Most days I returned with some fine-looking rocks that I thought might be valuable. Yup, I had a 'head full of hope.'
To this day, I still have that 'head full of hope' when it comes to prospecting because, as I think back, prospecting is always something I enjoyed doing. If I turned over enough rocks, I would eventually find something that I perceived as valuable, cool, or even scary (I've had a few prospects who were even scarier than that snake).
Thus, the same is true with prospecting for new customers; as long as you make the calls (phone or in person), send enough emails, do a few mailers, and before you know it, you've got prospects! Of course, some of those prospects won't pan out; others will fall off the face of the earth (we know that, right?), but there's always a few that will buy from you!
While in the office today, I mentioned the title of this blog to Ricky and gave him the outline. He commented, 'When you come to think of it, I was always prospecting before I got into sales.' I asked, 'How is that?' Ricky then stated that in his younger days (before he tied the knot), he would frequent some clubs to meet new women! Well, in my book, that's prospecting, right? When you come right down to it, all of us have some sales traits, and we didn't even know it!
I also have a 'head full of hope' for the Imaging Business. I believe that paper will never just go away, but I'm in agreement that prints from printers and copiers are in decline. There, I finally said it!
But, I've got a 'head full of hope' that new technologies will keep us relevant in the Office Technology business. Thus, in essence, we are still prospecting for hardware, software, and technology that will help our clients and prospects do more with less, save them time, increase efficiency, and help to lower their costs.
-=Good Selling=-"
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