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This post is excerpted from Hubspot's article: How to Have Your Best Sales Year Yet.
Imagine yourself in one year’s time. You’ve just finished an incredible year. Not only did you meet or exceed quota month after month -- meaning you beat your previous annual number by a long shot -- but you also learned new skills, strengthened existing ones, and became an all-around stronger salesperson.
This vision is probably compelling. But as writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry once said, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” If you want to get better and set new personal records, simply wanting it isn’t enough. You need a framework to guide your self-improvement efforts, give you focus, and help you track your progress.
Luckily, HubSpot haa created a 12-month strategy for you. This excerpt from their guide covers the essential elements ofsales productivity and features unique advice from Warren Greshes and John Boyens.
Read on to find your plan to having your best sales year yet.
Warren Greshes. Speaker & Author of The Best Damn Sales Book Ever.
Selling time is finite. In other words, you can only sell when your prospects are around -- which for most salespeople, means you can only sell during business hours. Paperwork time, on the oth er hand, is infinite. You can’t call buyers at 3 a.m. on Sunday, but you can do administrative tasks.
Unsuccessful salespeople tend to do paperwork during selling time. Successful ones reserve all activities that don’t require prospect interaction for non-sales hours.
On a related note, know who you’re going to call that day before you walk into the office. Don’t walk in, sit down, and start going through your names: You’ll waste 25 minutes you could have been on the phone.
That’s why the last thing you should do each night is put together your to-do list and call list for the next day. You’ll hit the ground running. And if you can free up an extra 15 minutes in your day for prospecting, you might schedule one more appointment or make three additional calls per week. That could lead to four more clients every month.
Finally, set a firm cut-off time for late prospects. My personal limit is 20 minutes. If our appointment is at 3, and we haven’t connected by 3:20, I’ll ask to make another appointment.
This helps you avoid spending too long waiting for prospects who may not be serious. In addition, it tells them your time is valuable -- and they should treat it as such.
John Boyens. Co-Founder & President of The Boyens Group.
Every week, make up a detailed time plan which you can modify as needed. Except in times of crisis, try to make sure day-to-day issues don't push your strategic time priorities off schedule.
Successful people also identify and eliminate time wasters. Look at your work schedule from last week and ask yourself, “If my distribution of time does not change, will I be able to achieve my personal and/or professional goals?”
If your answer is no, ask yourself:
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What activities should I continue doing?
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What activities would I like to start doing?
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What activities must I stop doing?
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