I was asked recently to write a short magazine piece entitled “How Salespeople Sabotage Their Most Valuable Asset – Time”, which I’ve detailed below in case you missed it.
1. They Don’t Make A Plan the Night Before (or the week before or the month before – or for the year ahead)
If you don’t know exactly where you’re heading in your daily sailing boat, the wind will take you where it wants. If you have a chart and get blown off course you simply readjust your heading as required.
Setting down your main objectives the night before allows you to start straight away – on the things that matter most – when you’re really feeling up for it and raring to go.
Why spend the most energetic, exciting part of the day planning and then running out of steam before you’ve even started. Most people spend the first hour planning their day then take the foot of the gas because they think they’ve already achieved something.
Which is a problem because…
2. They Don’t Get Started on Their Plan Straight Away
So – they’ve got a plan and you know what they say “A job well planned is already half way finished, isn’t it?”
No – it just means you’re really good at dreaming about how you’d like your life to look.
Now that you’ve got the map – crack on and leave port – ships weren’t built to remain at anchor and life changing and important plans weren’t meant to stay on paper.
3. They Attack Their To-Do-List in a Linear Fashion (Instead of working out what really needs doing first)
As the great Steven Covey said “Don’t prioritize your schedule – schedule your priorities” – working out what’s really important takes a little more effort than most people want to put in (and usually ‘cos they don’t like all the answers that it throws up).
Having a list of 100 things to do and ticking them off one at a time is great – unless Number 99 is “Pay your taxes before 10.00 am or go to prison!”
In which case it’s not so clever.
A little dramatic maybe, but linear lists are always full of things that should be right at the top, but nestle somewhere else because they’re not all that exciting or they’re just a bit too scary to start right now.
I was always fond of the acronym I learnt from a fabulous old boss – BANJO
Bang A Nasty Job Off – because it’s usually really important – and you know it is – however, there are always just so many more attractive jobs to get done first.
4. They Try to do Everything
There is a phrase in my new book The Extremely Successful Salesman’s Club –“People often overestimate what they can do in a day and underestimate what can be achieved in a year.”
Trying to do “everything” and then getting downhearted and kicking yourself at the end of every unfulfilled day drives people to give up (or jut not start, due to the vastness of what’s required).
Have a list and decide what would be a tolerable outcome – what you’d put up with achieving today, the “must do’s”, and a best outcome – what you’ll give yourself a slap on the back for achieving, that’s just that little bit more stretching.
Best regards
Chris
PS – My new book The Extremely Successful Salesman’s Club is getting rave reviews – if you click on the book title above you can download the first 4 chapters for free
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This year, I want to help you and your sales team become more successful than they’ve ever been before – call my office now on 0844 293 9777 or request a call back by going to our Contact Page HERE.
You and I can work out a sales training programme that suits your requirements perfectly – foundation level sales training, field sales training, account management training, selling value over price, FMCG sales training, customer service training, whatever it might be – but it’s a big old world out there and if you don’t take two minutes to invite me over, I may never know you need me.
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Chris Murray
0844 293 9777
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