I given a lot of thought to this topic, Push vs. Pull. How do you go from pushing your product/service onto poor unsuspecting prospective clients to sitting back and getting pulled in by the same group (two extremes)?
I posted the question to the LinkedIn community this week and got some great answers, but (big surprise) no silver bullets. (See the discussion.)
After 15 years experience and this discussion, I think I’ve discovered my own silver bullet(s).
I’ve had three very different experiences on this topic.
The first, I needed to do some pushing (lots and lots sales activity) on the front end and then I had more pull than I could handle. This happened within 60 days on the job. We had over 200 competitors in the immediate area. We were, I believed, best in class and the customers now had a visible access point.
Then, I had a job that was 110% PULL! I sold a service that large companies needed. We were the only ones who did it on a global scale and the economy gave us great momentum. I was an order taker more than a sales rep.
Then, I had an experience that was almost all push. Great service, expensive, unknown, with little marketing support and about a million competitors. This scenario was exhausting. I loved this service and believe it in though so I continued to push or evangelize and I began to describe it.
So, how do you decide what to sell?
You either find a service that “sells itself” and enjoy the pull or you find a product or service that is more unknown, but you have passion for and master the push.
Both have their pros and cons. I’ll share my experience with those later.
(Thoughts and experiences brought to you by Jill Myrick of Meeting to Win. Get your thought-provoking, conversation-starting sales team meeting topics from Meeting to Win.)
