What’s your most precious asset as a salesperson? Most people would suggest that their most precious asset is their traits, their skills, their experience, their relationships, their customer base, or something else along those lines. Some might even list their products or their company. And all of those salespeople would be wrong.
Your most precious asset as a salesperson is your TIME. More specifically, your most precious asset is that time window during the week that you are able to call on your customers either face-to-face or voice-to-voice. Hours wasted or simply spent inappropriately aren’t hours that are turning into revenue, profits, or commissions for you or your company. The problem is that salespeople do things every day that waste their time, and today, we’ll discuss the three most common.
- Working junk business. This is the most common time-waster for salespeople. Last week, I visited a client whose sales calls were inappropriately slanted toward tiny, marginally profitable accounts – while the salespeople were driving by accounts that were bigger and nicely profitable. For any company, there’s a ‘sweet spot’ of accounts that have stability, profitability, and ‘sell-ability.’ If these accounts represent the top of the bell curve, there are accounts smaller than your sweet spot AND bigger than your sweet spot that represent the unprofitable zone.
In this case, not only were the salespeople calling on tiny business – they were chasing the tiny business, sometimes making five, six, or even seven calls to win business that barely justified one call. Chasing business too far above the sweet spot can be just as bad, however; increased competition and price pressure can make the largest accounts in your territory unprofitable and (if the pay package is constructed correctly) low commissioned for you – and yet the effort you’ll put into trying to sell these accounts is a major time suck.
Working junk business typically has two causes – fear and emotional involvement. Salespeople sometimes work small business because they have a fear of working larger accounts. That’s bad. Worse can be the emotional involvement that says, “I have to win all the business in my territory because I hate seeing my competitor there.” Get over it. You’ll never get 100% market share, in most cases you really don’t WANT 100% market share, and it’s always OK with me if my competitors are selling the bad business.
- Artificially Extending the Sales Cycle. Too many salespeople unwittingly extend the sales cycle themselves. They do so through fear, lack of training, and a lack of preparation.
Fear comes into play because salespeople are scared to close business. Many salespeople believe that if they ask closing questions, or even ask questions that set a closing arena, the customer will be off-put and they will miss opportunities. Don’t be that guy or gal. If you’re unsure of where you stand with the customer, ASK. And never be afraid to ask a closing question. Sometimes the time you waste is your own.
Lack of Training impacts the sales process because salespeople don’t know or understand how to expedite the process. For instance, every appointment should end with a firm commitment for the next appointment or activity, with times and places. It’s never easier to set the next appointment than when you’re on the current appointment. Use that opportunity wisely. The ‘chase cycle’ happens when you have to call the customer back to set the next action.
Lack of Preparation is tied with lack of training, but occurs when salespeople simply don’t take the tools of the sale in with them. Salespeople should always be prepared to take the call as far as it can possibly be taken. If you have the tools to quote price on the spot, bring them into the call. Same with order forms, credit applications, and other tools. When you have to go back to the ‘bat cave,’ you become the obstacle. Always let the customer be the one putting the brakes on – not you.
- Chasing Customers Who Opt Out. Here’s the hardest thing for salespeople to realize: Customers can and will opt out of your sales process. From the time that they do, any time you spend on them is time wasted. Here’s a perfect example. Recently, a prospect didn’t keep a phone appointment with me. By that I mean that we had a prescheduled appointment, it was on both of our calendars with a specific time, I called, and she didn’t answer. Nor did she return a call or an e-mail. This is a rare occurrence; in fact, the last time it happened to me was nearly three years ago. Once upon a time, I would have gotten very upset (I did get a little upset; not keeping an appointment is very disrespectful) and I’d have worn out her phone and email until she spoke to me.
No more. I called and emailed once, so in case there was a misunderstanding, we could reschedule. With no response, I simply moved on. There are too many prospects out there, and particularly with my limited selling time these days, I don’t have the time to chase. She has opted out of my sales process. Why? Who knows. Maybe it wasn’t a priority. Maybe the funding wasn’t there and she was embarrassed. Regardless, there are too many other prospects out there to wear her out for a response. Too many salespeople treat situations like this like a dog treats a bone. Don’t. There are other prospects out there who will want to talk to you and work with you.
All of these problems are characterized by an emotional response rather than an intellectual one. Back in the days when I did chase and chase and chase customers, I knew – intellectually – that they had opted out. However, my pride wouldn’t let me admit that to myself, so I told myself that the sale was just around the corner.
When you’re up against any of these situations, respond intellectually rather than emotionally, and you’ll be more successful. I promise.
