It's about time

Punctuality is on of the hallmarks of a professional sales person. When you tell a customer you will be there at 9 am, you should be there at 8:55 am. This sends a number of signals to your customers. If you do not arrive when you said you would--can they trust your other statements? Punctuality is an easy way to demonstrate that you mean what you say. Nothing is more valuable to a prospect than their time. This is what entrepreneurs bring to their enterprises. Most business people hate to waste time. If you make them wait or ,even worse, forget to show up, you've will have a very hard time getting back into thier good graces. The key to punctuality is keeping in touch with reality. Take a realistic look at your schedule before making an appointment. Allow enough time for each call and for travel time. If you schedule too tightly, you will find yourself trying to catch up all day long. You need to maintain a balance between trying to do too much and doing too little. Use gaps in your schedule to cold call or phone customers. If unavoidable circumstances put you behind schedule, call you customer to notify them or to reschedule. Do this early enough that they can make alternate plans.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks

Jim Busch

Look busy

This past weekend I traveled to San Antonio Texas to speak at the Texas Community Paper Association conference. One of the other speakers was my friend Mike Blinder. Mike had a lot of great things to say but hear is one that really struck me: "Busy people always respect busy people." I see a lot of reps who do not value their own time and this sends the wrong message to clients and prospects. If you tell the customer, "I have a lot of people to see today so let me get right to the point" you send the signal that you are busy and successful. If you say "I can be there when ever you want", or "sure I can wait an hour to see you", you tell the customer that you are desperate and maybe they shouldn't advertise with you. If you don't respect your time, the customer certainly never will. Keep Smiling, Keep Selling! Thanks Jim Busch

Work while you wait

Waiting is a part of sales. We try to manage our time effectively but sometimes we have to wait for customers who are late for a meeting or who are busy with a customer. Since some waiting is unavoidable the best strategy is to use this time effectively. We all have many small paperwork tasks that need to be done. Updating calendars, completing orders etc. can be done while sitting in a waiting room. The key is to keep the necessary materials with you at all times. This is also a good time to catch up on business reading. I always keep a few articles from sales and business magazines or printouts from the web in my jacket pocket. I seldom have time to keep up in my reading at the office,but I can use waiting time to keep myself up to date. Doing this also has a good impression on your clients. They like to work with reps who value their time as they know these reps will also value the time of their customers.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks

Jim Busch

An exta month's income

I didn't want to get out of bed this morning. I spent last night at a hockey game with our marketing department and sales management team. This morning was cold and snowy here in Pittsburgh. Still my feet hit the floor at 6:30 and I was out the door by 7:15. My farmer grandfather long ago impressed the impact of early rising on what one can get accomplished in a day. Think about this, if you get up 15 minutes earlier every day of the week you add a week and a half to your work year. Add another 15 minutes at the end of the year and you get more than 3 full weeks extra. Here is how the numbers add up: 15 min/day X 5 days = 1 hr. 15 minutes X 50 weeks (You can sleep in on your 2 weeks vacation) = 62 and one half extra hours per year. Not only do you get extra time but you get quality time. By starting early you are off and running before most people are in gear. This means you can accomplish a lot before anyone is there to interrupt you. If you use this time to plan and prepare you will see a big jump in your sales effectiveness. Since sales people are rewarded in direct proportion to the effort they put into their job this is certain to pay financial dividends.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Sales Resolution #2

Here is my second suggested resolution for advertising sales people: Track your numbers. Sales people should keep careful records of their activities. As a sales person, I tracked my calls, my presentations, my closes, my sales and my sales revenue. This information kept me honest. The number of calls told me if I was slacking off. The number of presentations told me if I was using a good call opening and engaging the customer, the closes told me if I was keeping the customer interested with my presentation. The number of sales was a measure of everything I was doing. I used the revenue number to determine my earnings but also to calculate my average sales. the average sales revenue was a good way to know if I was "leaving money on the table." I always kept better records than my boss required. This data prevented me telling myself I was working hard when I began to cut corners. It is also a great way to tie your activities to your sales results. I always knew how many calls I needed to make to generate the income I needed to make. If you do this on an ongoing basis as you go through your day it requires very little time and produces great results.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling.

Thanks Jim Busch

Dr. Drucker's Fab Five

Dr. Peter Drucker was in many ways responsible for American industry's fabulous productivity in the middle of the 20th century. For almost seven decades he was the preeminent business thinker in the world. Here are the 5 practices he identified that set high performers apart from the crowd:

1. Effective people know where their time goes. They take a systematic approach to time management.
2. They focus on contributing to the success of their organization. They spend their time on activities that will make a difference.
3. Top performers know their personal strengths and concentrate their efforts on activities that require them to exercise them.
4. Effective people concentrate on their priorities. They realize that time is a finite resource and don't dissipate their energies on low value activities
5. Top performers make decisions thoughtfully. They consider probable scenarios and think them through beforehand. By considering possible situations they can make good decisions on the fly. They look and life like a chess board and are always thinking several moves ahead.

I highly recommend Dr. Drucker's books particularly The Effective Executive. They are timeless classics for anyone in business.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Track your time

Time can be very slippery. It is easy to lose track of it. A time log is a good way to get a handle on your time and where it goes. This is a simple sheet with the day broken down into 15 minute increments. Use this page to record your activities over several days. Once you have collected this information analyze it and categorize the items on your list by the type of activity. Pay particular attention to how much of your day is spent on direct sales activities. This analysis will help you to streamline your non-sales activities and focus your time on the things that produce revenue.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

ROE--Return On Effort

I was working with a rep who was planning a "promo page." The page involved selling a large number of advertisers and was based on readers "voting" by sending in answers to trivia questions. In many ways this was a creative idea and the reader component provided proof that people were looking at the ad. The downside is that the the entire project would generate just over a $1,000 in revenue. In my opinion the minimal commission the rep would earn on the sales was not worth the effort to sell and set up the page. Generally promos are only worth the effort if they run for multiple weeks with minimal changes. Always think about the "ROE" of any activity. This works like "ROI" except that the investment is measured in time and energy instead of dollars. To be productive you need to maximize the amount you earn for every hour you put into building your territory.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

Weekly Quote

Throughout my long career I have known many people with marginal skills who do very well and I have known people with outstanding potential who who fail at sales. What's the difference? I have noticed that the most successful sales people are always good time managers. They make every minute count. Here's a quote to keep in mind when planning your week:

The bad news is that time flies. The good news is you're the pilot!"--Michael Althsuler

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling!

Thanks Jim Busch

TGIM--Making the most of Monday

This might sound a bit odd, but I love Monday's. I always tried to make the most of Monday by planning my day and doing my prep work on Friday or the weekend. I have always found Monday to be a great new business day. Prospects are refreshed by the weekend and ready to do business. Since Monday is the beginning of a new business week , they are ready to entertain new ideas. A lot of reps spend Monday getting ready for the week and end up wasting 20% of their selling time. I would always line up my best prospects for Monday morning because I like to start the week off with a good sale.

Keep Smiling, Keep Selling

Thanks Jim Busch