Let me start by saying I’d love to be able to sell ice to an Eskimo. But you know what?

Eskimos don’t need ice. They’re surrounded by it.

Unless I have the most incredible, cheap or convenient ice on Earth, I’d be a lot better off selling to prospects who aren’t already in the arctic. I hear there are only 4 million indigenous arctic people and 6.6 billion others who share this planet of ours.

To convert a prospect into a sale, you need to uncover needs and build value for your product or service. If you’ve engaged a prospect who can’t recite that value back to you, then you’re essentially in one of two buckets:

1. You haven’t done a good job building value (selling to wrong person, not identifying pain, not painting the picture, etc.)
2. You’re selling ice to an Eskimo.

I’m not saying to write off everyone in bucket #2. Just realize you have a very tough road ahead. Nurture those leads but focus on the prospects in the first group.

And moving forward, do what you can to stay out of the arctic in the first place!