by Admin | Sep 29, 2014 | Goal Setting and Achievement, Prospecting, Sales
Eeek! I’ve got all these things I have to get done this week and I just don’t know where to start to make a dent! I am behind on my quota and not quite sure where to go or what to do to hit my numbers for the year/month/week. Sound familiar? Let’s talk prioritization… This is actually an area I find the most challenging. Typically we gravitate towards those activities we are the most comfortable doing and procrastinate on those we are less comfortable with. Most sales professionals have their favorite activities and these are those that get done consistently, I like many sales people, hate reports. I will procrastinate with the best of them to avoid filing out my own sales projections, invoice requests or following up with that billing issue. “The new phone book has arrived, I bet there are businesses I haven’t contacted yet, I have to get my prospecting calls in” is my mantra when it is time for bi-monthly billing. And then I have that Midwestern work ethic fulfillment from prospecting (my favorite activity). We all deal with this issue, just in different areas and some better than others. Let’s talk through developing your priorities for sales. Who has already engaged you? What have you sold that you are responsible for delivering on those commitments. Take care of those who are committed to you because of you. Remember your prospects bought because of your ability to prove to them you were the solution to their issues. Deliver. What have you committed to? Many sales people fail to follow through on their commitments. This is...
by Admin | Jan 12, 2014 | Sales
In High School I had the dream job of any teenage girl. I galloped racehorses. Animals teach you many life lessons and I thought I would share one that has resonated with me throughout my professional career. I was a pretty good rider, and like most kids, had more than my own fair share of self-confidence. I had been at this job for about a month, and my employer had gotten a pretty good handle on my ability, where I was lacking and decided I needed a bit of education. The first thing to realize is that in order to learn, I had to recognize what I didn’t know. One lovely morning at the ripe hour of 6:00 a.m. my lesson began with learning how the racehorse ‘breaks’ from the gate. My teacher for the day was a Quarter Horse gelding named Dust ‘Em. Dusty taught me many lessons in my first few months at the race barn, but on this day it was the importance of humility. The trainers recognized that you don’t put an inexperienced rider on a green horse, you put the green rider on your seasoned campaigner. Dusty had won many futurities as a 2 and 3 year old and was no slouch in the racing game. He knew the drill. And the trainer, Ron, who was helping me get ready for my first experience ‘breaking’ gave me advice that, of course, I didn’t heed as the amazingly talented rider I was then. The specific guidance he gave me to ‘grab hold of the mane like I’m getting launched off a rocket’ didn’t quite register....
