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How many companies are there in the United States? It’s a large number. I’ll give you the number a little later in this sales blog post. What I like about the number is that there are plenty of fish in the pond. You and your company only think you have tapped the potential of your markets.

“…quit wasting time on that prospect who’s playing a big game of hard-to-get when there are so many others interested in dancing with us.”

How Many are There?
A reliable and current source says there are 20,392,694 businesses in the United States. Over 20 million companies operate in the United States. And you know what? Sometimes we act as if there are 237 businesses instead of 20,000,000+.

He Needed Sales Tips for Dating
I had a friend in high school who fell in love with one girl who didn’t even know his name. His efforts to go out with her didn’t seem to work. He would obsess over this one girl. What drove us all nuts was that this guy looked like Brad Pitt. Many girls would have been happy to go out with him. However, he chose to put all of his “prospecting” efforts into just one girl. He didn’t date much.

When we’ve made a gallant effort to land a prospect but we aren’t getting anywhere, it’s smart to move on. There are many opportunities for us to “date” prospects, but we’re so focused on a handful of them that we lose site of the big picture.

Conventional sales tips tell you to “never give up” on a prospect. However, there’s a point where we need to quit wasting time on that prospect who’s playing a big game of hard-to-get when there are so many others interested in dancing with us.

Sales Blog Epilogue
Our prospect “black book” is huge in the United States. As sales professionals, we’re fortunate. Cross out the names of the ones that aren’t responding to your efforts and contact some of the other 20,392,693. There are plenty who want to go out with you, but first you have to pick up the phone and make a “date.”

Further reading:

• Sales Skills, Compliments of Cadillacs and Cosmetics
• Sales Tips: What is Cycle Prospecting or Perpetual Prospecting?

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Tags: Prospecting, prospects

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