Professionals sort, amateurs sell.
What do I mean by that?
Amateurs start trying to sell far too early. You've spoken to the person at a networking event who is convinced that you need to buy their product, just like the person they spoke to before you, and whoever they'll talk to after you've turned them down.
They don't know anything about you, but they'd like to tell you all about the features and benefits of their product and why you definitely need to buy it from them.
How likely are you to do business with them, really? Unless they are very lucky and you have a need for exactly what they're offering right at the time they're offering it, you'll probably just take their card and lose it later that week.
Meanwhile, a professional knows that not everyone needs what he's selling. He knows that there's a certain type of person with a certain type of need who will do business with him, and that it's not worth his time trying to sell to someone who isn't going to buy from him. He values his time too much for that.
Instead of trying to go for an initial sell during an introduction or a networking meeting, a professional will ask questions to discover if the suspect he's talking to might actually become a qualified prospect.
He doesn't go for a sale—he goes for an appointment. His goal is to make appointments to further the conversation rather than shotgun-blasting his sales presentation to anyone within earshot.
And the result of this?
The professional spends some time sorting, and avoids a lot of wasted time trying to sell to people who aren't interested in what he has to sell. The amateur doesn't spend any time sorting, and instead wastes his time trying to convince people who aren't good prospects that they need to buy something they know they don't want.
Professionals sort, and amateurs sell. Make sure you're spending your time in a way that's benefiting you.
