Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Five Real Ways Salespeople Waste Time—and Lose Money!

What separates “best of the best” salespeople from the rest of the pack? It’s how they chose to use their time! Eliminate these time wasters and sell more.

• Stop calling on accounts with teeny-tiny payoffs. You know who I mean. That’s likable Bob. He’s the part-time designer who works out of his basement and still hasn’t upgraded from the original version of InDesign! He’s also the guy who has ten alternates on the business card job and needs sixteen papers samples—cut to size and dummied up—and after all that will tell you with great regret that he bought the job on VistaPrint because they were cheaper.


• Stop looking for leads from 8AM to 5PM, Monday to Friday. Those are prime selling hours. Use them to sell. If you need leads, look for them on the weekend or after hours.


• Stop spending hours on useless research. By useless, I mean stuff that is interesting to know, but won’t help you get an appointment or make a sale. To become a better researcher, write down the specific question you need answered in order to take the next specific step.


• Stop calling people 100 times without leaving a message. You have to call five to eight times before people believe you’re relentless. The faster you prove that by leaving a message, the faster they pick up the phone.


• Stop calling people who demonstrate by their actions they are satisfied with their current solution. If you have called a prospect twelve times in 90 days, mailed three times and sent five emails—TAKE THE HINT! They’re not interested. Let them go. Move on. You’ll sell more in the long run when you stop wasting time on people who obviously don’t want to buy.

1 comment:

Jeff Lees said...

A wonderful post and reminders to all of us that don't let our leads go thinking we need to get every single person we talk to! One reason I love what I do . . . even if we fail 90% of the time we are well ahead of the curve! Thanks for keeping us as always well informed and moving ahead of the pack!

Jeff Lees, KS