The Sales Glacier Effect

Now remember that this is the Year of Marketing... so I am growing and developing hundreds of different skills in sales & marketing. And as I continue growing and succeeding at this game, I realize something new.

The world of "Sales" and "Being Sold To" and "Marketing" all obey certain principles for very certain reasons. I saw this when I was counting the percentage of leads that became customers. It was always, always a small, small fraction. Whenever I sent a message to a large number of people, then I would be 2%-10% of people responding. That means that we are all saying 'no' more than 90% of the time.

Why is the universe designed that way???

I think it has to do with the same principle that guides most 'growth,' both in science, technology, etc. The 80 / 20 rule. But this is an extreme version of that. This is the 90 / 10 rule. The idea is that 10% of your leads [or marketing, actions] create 90% of your results [or profits, growth].

I realized that I was trying to squeeze 90% level of results (or even 50% level results) out of each group of people. But 100% of leads will only ever generate 10% results at most - never 50% reliably. If you squeeze any longer, you are just wasting your time. And you are probably upsetting everyone!

So I have started a new sales habit. I only focus on cherry-picking and taking care of the few select people (the 10% that are the 'results') out of any large group or list.