Episode 38 – The Illusion of Selling
Monday Motivational Minute – Episode 38
The Illusion of Selling
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Start Managing Your Time Today
One of my favorite “Salesperson’s excuses” for not doing any business is: “I’m so bogged down in paperwork I don’t have time to make the calls, let alone go on appointments.”
My reply to this is always the same. I say, “There’s a very simple solution. Just stop selling altogether and there won’t be any paperwork.” Of course there won’t be any job either, but that’s beside the point.
A very important key to organizing your time as a salesperson is to always remember:
Paperwork time is infinite, Selling time is not.
You can only sell when clients and prospects are around; let’s say between 9AM and 5PM. However, paperwork is a one person task that can be done 24 hours a day, even at 3AM on a Saturday morning. Now I’m not telling you to do paperwork at 3AM Saturday morning, in fact I don’t want you to. I want you to have a life: I think that’s extremely important, but you get the point.
Oftentimes there’s no way around it. Very few people in this world became successful working 40 hours a week. You wouldn’t be the only person to put in extra time or take work home with you.
Why do paperwork if you can be talking to a client on the phone or in person? If you absolutely have to do paperwork during normal business hours, block out a certain time to do it. Don’t do it as you’re making phone calls. Try to avoid momentum breaking starts and stops.
Never do anything during “Prime Selling Time,” that can be done at any other time. The whole idea of working smart is to be able to call; speak to; and see as many clients and prospects as possible during a limited period of time. Maximize your effort.
If you liked this time management tip and found value in it, click this link for my new audio program, “Time Management Skills That Work”, where you’ll find 20 tips just like this one guaranteed to help you save time, work smarter, see more prospects and increase your sales. Check it our now!
Always Follow Through
Anyone who has ever followed my articles, blog postings, videos and podcasts knows that I’m passionate about the importance of prospecting. Time and again you’ve heard me say, “If you’re not making the calls, nothing else matters.”
Well let me amend that a bit, because as it turns out, there is one other thing that does matter: If you’re going to make the calls and set up the appointments, please remember to show up!!!
You’re probably saying, “What kind of boob would make an appointment and not show up?” Obviously the kind of boob that doesn’t want to do business; as my wife can attest to.
My wife, Linda, was attempting to find a tree service that could cut down and remove one tree from our property and cut back and trim a number of others. She asked a friend for a referral and received two names.
The first service came highly recommended because while they charged more, they were “The EXPERTS!” So, Linda called them, left a message, they called back, set up an appointment and guess what; that’s right, they didn’t show up. I guess Linda’s friend forgot to tell her there was one thing they weren’t expert on.
The 2nd service was very nice. He showed up on time, looked around and told Linda he’d get back to her with an estimate in “the next couple of days.”
Two weeks later; no estimate; but he did call to say his father had been sick and he needed to take some time to straighten things out and would it be OK if he dropped off the estimate in the next couple of days. Linda was very sympathetic and said “No problem, in fact email it if you want.”
Needless to say the estimate never arrived, either in person or via email. I guess following up is another thing that matters.
My favorite is the 3rd character she called. This was a recommendation from a friend of mine. He called to say he doesn’t like to make appointments but he’ll be around “Next week,” and he’ll call when he is in our area.
We didn’t hear from him for 2 to 3 weeks, when all of a sudden he called to ask “Do you still want me to come?” Linda said, “I thought you were going to contact me a couple of weeks ago?” He said, “I was busy (wrong answer).” To which Linda replied, “That’s OK, I found someone else to do the job.”
Here’s the lesson; just because you made the calls and booked the appointments it doesn’t end there. Prospecting is also about showing up for the appointment (on time), following up and letting each prospect and client know their business is important to you.
If you want to learn more about prospecting and how to use it to supercharge your activity, get more appointments and increase your sales, join me on September 22nd at 6PM Eastern Time for a two (2) hour simulcast on “Prospecting Skills that Work.”
For $59 you’ll learn how to:
- Overcome the fear of rejection
- Develop a call counting system that will show you how much activity you need to generate on a daily basis in order to hit your goals.
- Control the conversation
- Anticipate and turn around any objection that comes your way.
Episode 37 – Keep Setting New Goals
Monday Motivational Minute – Episode 37
Keep Setting New Goals
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Episode 36 – Personal Responsibility Part 3
Monday Motivational Minute – Episode 36
Personal Responsibility Part 3
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Making the Calls
About 6 months ago I had the opportunity to address Carolina Chapter of the National Speakers Association at one of their monthly meetings in Charlotte. The topic was Sales with an emphasis on how to prospect for business.
One young man in the audience, who had only been in the speaking business a short time, and did not have a sales background, contacted me a few days after the meeting so that he could set up an appointment to come to my office and pick my brain some more, which was just fine by me.
I talked to him for a couple of hours about sales; prospecting; the importance of “making the calls,” tracking your activity; using a script and handling objections. But most of all I emphasized that making the calls on a consistent everyday basis was critical.
Fast forward to two weeks ago. My wife, Linda, and I were at the National Speakers Association Convention in Scottsdale, Arizona. Sure enough, I ran into the young man who had come to my house for sales advice. He informed me he was “Making the calls,” and guess what: He was booking business; funny how that works!
With all the excitement about LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and all these other social networking sites, sooner or later you’re actually going to have to talk to somebody if you want to do business. Social networking sites are great for creating awareness and keeping your name in front of people; it’s called marketing. But it’s real hard to close a sale on Facebook.
This young man proved that there’s still a place (an important place) for making the calls. In fact, the last thing he said to me was, “I now have to get better at my technique,” to which I replied, “That’ll come. What’s more important is that you made the calls, because without that nothing else matters.”
