Keep Your Sales in Motion

Here’s Scientific “Proof!”

Isaac Newton – as well known as he is for his work in science – many of his ideas are applicable to sales and management, as well. Take, for example, these theories:

1. A body in motion tends to stay in motion – unless acted upon by an outside force.

Imagine a customer who is “in motion” – i.e., they are doing a lot of business with you. That customer will continue working with you unless acted upon by an outside force; such as changes within their business, or competitor or market changes. So you can expect a customer to stay with you unless something changed with the customer, competition or the market.

2. A body at rest tends to stay at rest – unless acted upon by an outside force.

Similarly, a customer who’s not doing business with you will tend to continue to not do business with you. That could be changed by action from an outside force – such as your efforts at targeting more resources to that customer and working to change the customer’s perception of you. You’ll need to focus your sales energy on that inactive customer to change their inertia.

3. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Take this idea and apply it to selling and creating value. Simply put, if you provide only a little value, you should expect to receive only a little value in return. Create a lot of value and expect to receive a lot in return. So, by focusing on increasing the value you bring to customers in your sales calls, you can expect more value – i.e., business – in return.

Newton’s Bottom Line

You need to expend some – but not an extraordinary amount of – energy to maintain a customer’s momentum. You should, however devote considerably more energy to overcome inertia in prospects or inactive customers that do not have momentum. The degree of payback you get is equal to the value that you create for the prospect or the customer.