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Resolve for an Ideal Sales Day

 

It's amazing how we can fill our days with all kinds of busy work, putting off that which we like least until the end of the day, often running out of time to complete it. For those who are not in full-time sales roles, but have sales responsibilities, it's very easy to prioritize business development efforts right to the bottom of the pile. And when sales is your full-time job, often the least comfortable part of selling -- prospecting or cold calling -- makes the bottom of your list.

 

Here's your chance to make a 2009 resolution to significantly increase the consistency of your business development and prospecting efforts. How? Just design your Ideal Sales Day.

 

What Is an Ideal Sales Day?

 

It's the quintessentially perfect sales day -- the one you wish you could have once a week or maybe even once a month at this point. It's that day where distractions are limited and where you find plenty of time to call new prospects, follow up on pending sales, and talk with current customers to ensure they're satisfied and sending you referrals. It's the day you dream of. It's the day that hardly ever happens without a plan and a change in thinking.

 

How Do I Determine Mine?

 

Start by making a list of the major task categories that you would like to complete in your ideal day. If you're in a full-time selling position, this might include:

 

  • Following up on pending sales
  • Calling on new prospects to book sales appointments and then meeting with those prospects as scheduled
  • Conducting research for new prospect calls
  • Contacting recent customers who just made a purchase to gauge their satisfaction and ask for referrals
  • Sending follow-up correspondence related to sales activities (e.g., hand-written thank-you notes for in-person meetings, samples of your work in advance of or after a prospect meeting)
  • Tracking your sales activities for that day, including contact information for any new prospects identified, by entering it into your CRM (customer relationship management) solution such as ACT, Salesforce.com, Outlook, or even a simple Excel spreadsheet
  • Administrative work such as responding to internal emails, taking customer calls, etc.

 

Next, determine how long each of these activities should take on an ideal day and then prioritize them, making sure that the activities that you enjoy least but have the potential for the greatest impact are at the top of your list. Next plan out your ideal schedule across your eight-hour work day, and assign activity goals that you'll target where appropriate. Your day might look something like this:

 

     
    Time Slot
    Activity
    Goal
    8:00 - 9:00 am Call new prospects. Talk with 5. Book meetings with 2.
    9:00 - 10:00 am Research new prospects. Complete for new prospects booked today.
    10:00 - 10:30 am Follow up on pending sales. Close at least 1.
    10:30 - 2:30 pm Make in-person sales calls and take lunch. Get chance to quote on 1 job minimum.
    2:30 - 3:00 pm Track daily sales activities. NA
    3:00- 3:30 pm Send follow-up correspondence on day's activities. NA
    3:30 - 4:30 pm Conduct customer satisfaction checks and referral requests. Generate at least 1 referral and follow up on it.
    4:30 - 5:00 pm Administrative work NA

 

This Ideal Sales Day will look very different from industry to industry, but these principles generally hold true:

 

  • Most full-time outside sales people should target being out of the office at least half of the day.
  • If you plan less time for administrative work than you think you'll need, you'll probably still get it done. You'll simply create more efficient processes or delegate more.
  • If you put your least favorite, high-impact task right at the top of the list (e.g., prospecting for new business), and have the discipline not to move on to another task until you've reached that task's goal, you will grow your business.
  • If you block out segments of your calendar, each day, that correspond with your Ideal Day, you're more likely to stay focused and achieve your goals.
  • If you communicate what you're trying to do to your co-workers, you'll find how supportive they'll be in helping you eliminate distractions.

 

Food for Thought

 

Here's something else to think about, whether you're a sales manager or sales rep. In the Ideal Day charted out above, the sales rep is booking two prospect meetings per day. Compare the number of prospect meetings to be booked per day to a rep's sales targets and close ratios to determine if the targets are achievable. Is he or she meeting with enough qualified prospects a day to reach the sales goals set? If not:

 

  1. The Ideal Day needs to be adjusted to allow for more prospecting,
  2. The sales rep needs coaching on improving his or her close ratio, or
  3. The sales goal needs to be adjusted.

 

Contact RedRover for help in creating you or your sales team's Ideal Sales Day, as well as measurement strategies for helping to ensure you stick as close to that Ideal Day as possible.

Click here for other Rover Treats -- low cost sales and marketing tips to keep you leader of the pack in an economy that's gone to the dogs.