Your Time’s your own, so own your Time
In our sales world, our time is usually own….so it’s critical to make the most of every hour or every day. You dictate your own fate simply by dictating you spend your time. Be aware of all the things that happen during the day to disrupt your flow. Did you set time aside for returning calls? Did you return every call before the day was done? Did you set time aside to make your prospecting calls? Do your “chores” around your selling hours. Too many people allow their email in box to be their dash board…and allow it to dictate how they spend their time. Don’t fall into that trap.
Set you day up so that your “housekeeping” is before your selling hours. Do you have reports due to your manager? Get in early and get them done! Do you have paperwork to file? Get in early and get it done! Do you have quotes due to your Customers? GET THEM DONE! Never, under any circumstance, keep the Customer waiting for your longer than necessary.
Is your email filled with unread messages? At the end of each day, your email should be current! This is by far one of the greatest challenges in business today. Many people live by their email. If your email program allows for this, and most do, color code recipients. Customers in one color, internal company in another, for example. Many times, we get emails that just don’t need to be read! Your email program will likely allow for this type of correspondence to be automatically sent to a folder. Take the few minutes it requires to organize this piece of your life. You’ll find it saves you hours work in the long run.
TIP: If you find you’re going to be delayed in getting the Customer that he needs, call him, and let him know. Always set the Customers expectations as to when they can expect to your response to their inquiry
Think of your sales territory like it’s your own business. You’re the President and CEO and you can make, or break, your own future. Get up early! Get to your office early….it’s nice to be cleaning up paperwork and email when no one else is around, and certainly NOT when your customers need your time and attention. Organize yourself. There are some excellent books out there about organizing your desk and your “stuff” so it works for you. READ THEM! At least one of them! Get all of your “busy work” done before your selling hours begin. I always have a lot of projects going at once. Organize your projects so that you can effectively juggle them. There’s no more rewarding feeling than that of completing a project that takes up a ton of your time before everyone else’s day begins. Like many of us, you can be working on several projects at one time, just be organized about it so that you’re focused on what you’re doing. It sounds so simple. Yet, for us sales types, it’s one of the hardest tasks to accomplish. I once worked with a guy whose desk never looked like he had anything to do – it was the neatest place I’ve ever seen. I asked him the secret to working so neatly and he told me. He looks at what he needs to do and then decides whether he’s going to handle it, delegate it or dump it. If he’s to handle it, he does…and then puts it away in its proper place. And out of his mind. If he’s delegating it, he does, to a reliable resource and doesn’t think about it again. If he’s going to dump it, he does. And doesn’t think about it again. He knows just where all of this “stuff” is and clears his mind for the next project. Interesting to note, he’s consistently a top performing at his company, and he always makes his quota. He always seems to have the time for outside interests and for some fun. Also interesting to note, he keeps a list. An ongoing list of the things he wants to get done. Both personally and professionally. That list (kept electronically) is always with him (his organizational method of choice is his palm pilot). His greatest thrill is marking something on his “to do” list as complete. He clears his mind by tracking his “to do’s” so that he doesn’t have to constantly think about them.
There are many temptations in sales. Are you spending your time on the right things? What are the right things? Well it really does vary with every sales position and your goals both personally and professionally. Some of the right things no matter what your role is: planning, both long term and short term. Much like a to do list it gives you a series of things you need to accomplish. Since you’re the CEO of your own little business world you need to plan to get the most out of everything you do to provide a return on that investment of time. Do you have account plans for every account that is important to you? Most people don’t. They can be as simple as a list of who’s who in the organization both your organization and your customer or prospects organizations. “WAIT!!!!!!” You scream “an account plan for a prospect?” I know you’re thinking the two of us have finally lost it but take a minute and think about it, how do you know where you’re going if you don’t have a map. Now I’m not talking about an account plan for every passing prospect but for the major ones, it goes to doing your home work, think of it as a battle plan for each account. If you prepare a plan the contacts provide you with a map of the territory a battle plan that allows you to discover key issues in the selling process and just like a moat around a castle you can discover the obstacles to your attack. So maybe the operations guy or receiving department has special needs or would like specific additional information on a packing slip? What is the value to them and how does it flow through the organization, is your competition delivering that today, is it an enhancement or a wish list item that’s easy to deliver. What else should you have in an account plan, Credit history both with your company and a general rating such a Hoovers or D&B. Do you take returns, are they a current customer then what percentage of returns, warranty claims or failures do they have? If they are a prospect this is a great place to uncover possible pain points. Maybe they have excessive returns due to quality or more likely operational issues. Defective products, and returns don’t just affect your bottom line but they cost the customer money also. Man hours at the very least; then add in freight and packing materials.
Back to account planning. List purchase histories, past and current issues, and of course upcoming projects, and opportunities. It can be a sanity check against your pipeline which should very much be a part of your account plan.
Now that you have prepared an account plan, which of course you didn’t create during your prime selling time, take a moment to look at it. Have you set aside time for prospecting? Set real goals, make the calls, record the results, and then look at the data. How many customers are you seeing or talking to in a day or a week? Look at your close percentage and then determine not only how to improve that number by understanding not only why your customers buy but how to get in front of more prospects. What would the impact be of seeing two additional new prospects a week? Let’s put this in terms nearest and dearest to your heart, commissions! Take the hypothetical situation that you close 25% of the deals you get in front and each additional deal means 500 dollars in your pocket. So in an average month you get in front of eight additional prospects and close two. Over the course of a year you just gave yourself a $12,000 raise with out having to ask the boss for a dime. You just did a little bit extra. It’s your job to understand how you get paid and how to make the most out of your comp plan. Are there accelerators if you go above a certain dollar amount in sales or margin that kicks in when you over achieve? Over our years of experience we have seen and developed dozens of comp plans that allowed reps to greatly increase even double or triple their commission dollars by over achieving by 25-30%. Are you getting every dime of extra income possible?
Follow up. Once upon a time someone said showing up is 90% of the game. It couldn’t be more true. Make sure you follow up on each and every commitment you made in the meeting. Find new ways to separate yourself from your competition by offering things of value to the customer. Real information and insight, not trinkets or lip service but things that matter. An email thank you note while acceptable and quick is not nearly as well received as a personal hand written note after a meeting.
TIP: have a folder or binder for each account you call on. Before each meeting put a blank thank you note with an addressed envelope with postage in the folder. Make it habit to write the note after the meeting perhaps in the car in the parking lot as you review your notes and to do’s one last time before driving to your next appointment.
Allowing enough time- we’ve all done it. Some people are classic over bookers. Yep, you run from meeting to meeting pushing the boundaries and running late the entire day. While the ambition is admirable making sure you set a realistic schedule is important. Not just for your own sanity but to show respect for your customer’s time, it is valuable too and for your image. To be seen as a professional you have to act like one, being prepared is part of the equation, being prompt is all part of that. Just like the physical image you present with your grooming and clothing. Being on time sends a message.
Death by meeting- Time is a sales person’s most precious commodity. Guard it with your life. Sitting in unproductive meeting after unproductive meeting is not going to get you where you want to be. It’ll make you mind numb and your quota will be missed but it has nothing of value you. To make meetings more effective have a plan or an agenda. Even if you’re not calling the meeting, understand what the objectives of it are, who will be attending and how long it is expected to take. Just for the record, if done politely and professionally you have every right to ask a customer or even your CEO for an outline and this type of information. If they push back just tell them that you want to be have prepared the proper information, have the proper resources at the ready and your thoughts gathered.
So if you’re doing the agenda what should it include.
At a minimum it should have Name and contact information for the attendees- if they aren’t in the account plan or your CRM Data base, add them! The Place and time that the meeting is going to occur. An out line of how long each topic will take. Now, on a personal agenda have a meeting planner for your self, not to be shared with a customer but with your own team include there the questions you have prepared for the meeting, make sure you understand the value of each one. Questions have to have a purpose, if they are not leading some where don’t ask them. What is your objective for the meeting? Be specific. Gather enough info to create a quote or presentation, get to the next level of exec or decision maker by the end, expand the number of contacts, define the budget etc. Know why you are showing up then do your best to know why every one else in the room is there. It hurts. It is a level of commitment to get to that point but it will lead to the most productive use of the time.
Review your agenda with key parties on both sides before the meeting and then begin after introductions (which might be a good topic for your agenda) by reviewing the agenda and if need be further clarifying the other parties expectations. It’ll give you addition insight into their objectives and real goals. Listen, take good notes and read them back or rephrase their issues just to clarify. Then adjust the schedule as need be, prioritize it with what you have just learned and take into account the additional background info you have to make the most of the time, adapting it on the fly. Agenda’s are a plan and as you know plans change, be flexible but make sure you don’t lose sight of the value of the meeting to your objectives and time commitment.
What else do you have to know? Training and staying current is important, while there is a chapter on product knowledge it goes with out saying do as much of you learning as possible during non peak selling times.
The 12 Temptations of a salesperson
1) It’s not that important
2) I can do this and it won’t affect my sales
3) A few more calls don’t really matter
4) What is one customer worth
5) My accounts love me and they only buy because of me!
6) Details are a waste of time
7) I’LL JUST WING IT, I’VE DONE THIS A MILLION TIMES
8) No one will ever notice
9) I’ll get to it later it will always be there
10) It’s part of my reward
11) There is always tomorrow
12) I own them my competitors aren’t any where in sight.
