Selling to 'Zebras' to Overcome Tough Times

7. Present a proposal back to Power that includes everything needed to virtually guarantee they will achieve the desired results.

8. Close the business and immediately schedule a "force success" meeting.

9. Conduct a "force success" meeting every 90 days to ensure the project is on target to fulfill the promises Power made that got the project approved.

10. Repeat the process.

Q. What are the common mistakes sales people make in targeting potential buyers?

Koser: Most good salespeople have an instinct for Zebras. They know in their gut when they've found a prospect that offers them a good chance. It's the perfect prey, and the time and money spent pursuing this prospect is going to pay off. But they still pursue lots of prospects that aren't Zebras because they believe that if they work hard enough, they can close those deals, too. This is a fallacy that most salespeople believe.

Here's the problem. These companies or individuals may or may not buy from someone, but they aren't going to or shouldn't buy from you. The reason? Their needs don't line up well enough with what your company delivers. You can chase them all you want, but you'll never be able to deliver the solution that truly meets their needs. If you're focused on pursuing anything other than Zebras, you're just chasing whatever happens to step into view. And putting your energy toward the wrong focus is just as detrimental to sales success as being unfocused.

Q: How do you ensure you are picking the right attributes in developing your profile of potential clients?

Koser: You test it. There are seven questions that you answer about each prospect. The questions are scored from 0-4. A perfect Zebra score is 28 (7×4). For most of our customers a Zebra score of 23 means that prospect will buy 90% of the time. When you finish your Zebra, you test it by scoring the last five deals you won. They should score at or near 23. Then test it against deals that were lost to competition. Then test it with a deal that in your heart you don't ever think will close. Lost deals, and deals you don't believe will ever close, will always score less than 19.