Running Your Day Without a Plan

If there’s anything on this list that probably kills more sales people that any other, it’s trying to function without a daily plan. Study life of any successful sales person throughout history and you’ll quickly see that planning is a common thread that runs through all of their careers.

The worst thing I’ve seen that happens to dozens of sales people is that they manage their day according to how they feel. When this happens, you can work for an entire day without ever accomplishing anything significant. Don’t let this happen to you, make a plan and follow it every day.

Some of things you should plan into each and every day are new prospect development activities, follow up activities, research, and planning. Everything that moves a sale from beginning to end should be planned into every day.

Long Term Marketing During Work Hours

This one may not hit home if you’re not responsible for branding and marketing of your product on a more national or long term basis. But for those of you that are selling for a small business, or own a business, this one is just for you.

Long term marketing includes writing articles or books, working on your web site, putting together marketing material, and any other similar activity during business hours. If you’re in very first steps of developing your business model then this material has to be created before you can really selling, but for those of you that just aren’t convinced that your marketing material is top quality, or your brand positioning needs a little work, you’ve got a constant temptation to do this during work hours and it will kill your sales if you give in to it.

You’ve got to strike while iron’s hot and that mean selling during normal business hours and working on long term projects after or before business hours. If you think that sounds too difficult for you, guess what, you’re in wrong profession. When you decided to go into sales, you agreed to a whole different lifestyle than your computer programmer friends. Non-Business Work During Business Hours

This is catch-all for all those other things that you do at work that don’t make yourself or your company any profits. This includes paying bills, reviewing your 401K, balancing your checkbook, writing poems to your girlfriend, playing video games, watching movies, and so on. All of these things have a time and a place in life, but it’s not at office when you need to be selling. If you find yourself gravitating to these activities every day, I recommend getting some professional help. A great way to start would be to sign up for my Nacke Gazette where you’ll find encouragement and success tips in your inbox every couple of weeks.

Overcoming non-productive activities in sales is probably something you’ll struggle with your entire career. By being mindful of what you’re doing and fighting against distraction, you’ll see greater and greater success throughout years.

Even among professional buyers money is not most important issue. In a survey conducted by Marketing Institute of Ireland in March 2001, professional buyers ranked Price/Value at number three behind Quality and Service.

Does it surprise you that Value is still only ranked number four, even in tighter economic times? Price is amount you pay, Value is what you get for money. But human values of help and friendliness still rule.

And I believe that if research had been carried out among buyers exposed to a tele-sales or “external” selling environment, that results would not vary to any great extent.

Time perhaps, if you feel you work in a price sensitive sector, to re-evaluate how you are delivering on real criteria that your buyers are applying to their purchasing decisions.

And Keep Selling With Integrity.

Maitiu