Selling.2.YES

November 2020

3 tips to stay balanced on your sales beam

Google “sales aphorisms” and you’ll come up with a multitude of fun sayings that happen to be true. Consider these…

“Confidence and enthusiasm are the greatest sales producers in any kind of economy.”

“Don’t sell life insurance. Sell what life insurance can do.”

“If you are not taking care of your customer, your competitor will.”

“The key is not to call the decision maker. The key is to have the decision maker call you.”

And here’s my favorite by Zig Ziglar….”Timid salesmen have skinny kids.”

But here’s the one that’s the truest of all…

“Time is money.” (Ben Franklin is on the scene to save the day again).

Time is money. Yes, Mr. Franklin, it most definitely is.

As sellers and sales managers, we know time is money, but unfortunately, we don’t live it. We let time own us. And the reasons are simple:
1.    We’re overloaded. The multitude of stuff flying at us from all directions creates a Darwinist approach to the day: survival becomes the main objective.
2.    We haven’t been taught how to prioritize tasks, goal set, or manage time. It might not be our fault, but it IS now our responsibility to address it.

Like anything in life, commitment is the key to changing behaviors. It's a paradox that we first see the specific and logical path to achievement before we create our commitment. Well, it’s a lucky day for you because I’ve got the “specific and logical path” which means you’re gonna soon be on the hook to bring the commitment. Here are my three tips that you can easily do to improve productivity and better manage your time:

1. End each workday recording your accomplishments for that day.
I recommend creating a cloud doc that serves as a diary…something you can keep adding to each night and track progress in an organized manner.
Why? You should feel positive about what you accomplish each day and the only way to do it is to reflect and record what you achieved.
Motivating action: if you feel discouraged that you’re not listing enough accomplishments, or your achievements don't yield enough value, then take that as inspiration to bring more seriousness to your day.
Nightly time commitment: 3 minutes.

2. End each workday recording where you wasted time for that day.
Literally list all the activities you did that took you away from being productive. Surfing sports sites, checking your 401(k) portfolio morning/noon/night, walking the cat...list everything that didn't contribute to creating sales momentum.
Why? You need to raise awareness and accountability for time you spend AWAY from activities that produce positive outcomes.
Motivating action: seeing where and how you spend time should create a more productive mindset and better work behaviors. It will also create firmer boundaries which is very important in this covid age.
Nightly time commitment: 3-4 minutes.

3. Set three daily goals.
Make them specific and small. (What? I should make my goals SMALL? Isn't that antithetical to all I've been taught?)
Why? Goal-setting is the gasoline that makes the time-management engine run…to manage time effectively, you have to develop a “goal-setting” mentality. Making meaningful and lasting behavioral change means starting small. The goal-setting topic yields moans, but it doesn’t have to be that way. What matters is to develop your "goal-setting muscle" by starting small!
Motivating action: create momentum and good feelings about goal-setting.
Nightly time commitment: 2-3 minutes.

As you can see from the above, the commitment of your time each night is a whopping ten minutes. Do you have ten minutes per day to dramatically improve your time-management approach to work? I know you do.

Yes, there is much more complexity behind time management protocol, but would I take you on the black-diamond Lover’s Leap and Iron Mask runs at Blue Sky Basin in Vail if you were a beginning skier? Would I take you for 18 holes at Pebble if I put a golf club in your hand for the first time?

First, do the above. It works. And then, if you’re ready for a more sophisticated approach to time-management, call me and I'll introduce you to my proprietary protocol guaranteed to make you more productive and effective at selling and/or managing your sales team.

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Selling.2.YES

November 2020

3 tips to stay balanced on your sales beam

Selling.2.YES newsletter

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