When are you at your best?

I am a morning person. I love to get into the office before anyone else is there so that I can get my work done without interruption. My boss on the other hand usually arrives at 8:45 or 9, but will stay until 6:30 or 7. We both work very hard but our cycles are a little different. You should plan your day around your natural cycle. Either way your goal should be to be ready to start making calls before 9am. If you're an evening person, plan and prepare the night before, morning people can do it bright and early. Remember the only thing we salespeople get paid for is talking to customers about advertising. Doing planning or paperwork during "prime-time" is like picking your own pocket. You should arrange your day to spend your days where it counts.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

How much are you investing in your future

The best way to build a financial portfolio is to invest something every payday. Even a small amount each week will add up to a tidy sum over time. the same is true when building a sales territory. Investing at least a little time and effort everyday in prospecting and closing new business will lead to a long customer list. Most sales people acknowledge this fact, but not many put it into practice. It is far too easy to skip a day here or find other things to do on that day. I recommend keeping track of the amount of time you spend focused on selling new business. Hard numbers are the best antidote for excuses. It is hard to blame the economy or "Stupid Customers" when your records say you haven't been doing the leg work. Good record keeping also helps you to see the relationship of your prospecting activities to your sales results. Tracking your activities is a terrific way to manage your time and ensure that you are spending the bulk of your time doing the things that matter most.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

A timely idea

Sales people use all sorts of tricks to keep themselves focused on their primary task. We all know that the more time we can spend talking to advertisers and prospects the more money we will make, but it is easy to get distracted. I spoke to a sales person recently that has a unique way of keeping himself on task. He bought a cheap digital stopwatch. Throughout the day he starts the clock running when he is talking to a customer either in person or on the phone. As soon as the conversation ends, he hits the stop button. Each day he records the total elapsed time in his Day timer. He told me that when he started doing this he was amazed at how little time he actually spends doing the activity that he gets paid for, talking to customers. This gives him a heightened awareness of time and has motivated him to operate more efficiently. He plays a little game with himself, trying to beat his previous "personal best."

I've met a lot of salespeople in my life. The top sales people I've encountered are always excellent time managers. Using a stopwatch is a bit extreme but the idea behind it is sound. The more time we spend with customers--the more sales we will make.

Keep smiling, keep selling

Thanks Jim Busch