If you're selling a product or service the prospect is already buying from another company, there are two major roadblocks you must remove. The first is the relationship the prospect has with the current supplier or provider. Not the company or the salesperson, but the relationship. Providers of professional services such as banking, insurance, accounting, engineering, and consulting face this roadblock regularly.

Have you noticed the correlation between the number of people in your sales funnel and the amount of your commission checks? For many salespeople, it's an inverse relationship: the more people in the funnel, the less the amount of commission.

Your objective is to keep the funnel flowing. When your funnel is flowing, you're earning commission; when the funnel is clogged (with suspects masquerading as prospects), you're not.

So, how do you keep the funnel flowing? Eliminate the stutter steps. For each prospect in the funnel, you have only two choices: close the sale if the prospect is qualified or close the file if the prospect isn't qualified. Anything between these two actions is likely to be a stutter step.

What are stutter steps?

• The extra meetings required because there wasn't a clear-cut agenda for the initial meeting that spelled out exactly what was to be discussed

• The extra phone calls to request information you should have obtained during the face-to-face meeting, but were uncomfortable or afraid to ask for

• Sending "pre-approach" letters and literature to prospects as a way to avoid making prospecting calls

• Doing busy work that keeps you occupied, but doesn't put sales on the books or commission in your pocket

• "Following up" with prospects (actually, suspects) who insist that they are "interested" even though no clear-cut business opportunities have been identified

• Working on a presentation before budget issues and the prospect's decision process have been nailed down

• Allowing prospects to string you along with a "think-it-over" rather than giving them permission to say "no" so you can move on to more viable opportunities

Eliminate the stutter steps and keep your prospect funnel flowing. You only have so much time and so many resources to develop selling opportunities. Make sure you are investing them with prospects that deserve them --- and that can take you to the bank.

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