There are several very common temptations that routinely
present themselves to the field salesperson. One is to become too reactive. When you succumb to this temptation, you eventually
default to a mindset that sees your job as essentially being your customer’s
gofer. You determine where to go and
what to do on the basis of who wants something from you at the moment. Thus, where you go on Monday depends on who
called on Friday.
Another
temptation is to be lulled by the repetitive nature of the business-to-business
selling situation into a mindless routine.
When you succumb to this temptation, you quit thinking about the most
effective actions, and give in to the lure of the routine. It’s
Both
of these create salespeople of marginal performance, because they rob the
salesperson of one of his most powerful assets:
The ability to invest his/her selling time where it will produce the
greatest return on time invested.
There
is, however, a discipline that serves as a counter-weight to these
temptations. The best salespeople
routinely and with discipline and method, create a monthly plan for the
investment of their time.
The
monthly plan is an essential discipline that holds the two temptations
discussed above at bay, and, at the same time, produces decisions that lead to
the most effective actions.
It
is a best practice of the best, and one of the Five Key Disciplines that we
teach participants in our Kahle Way® Selling System.
A
monthly plan is just that – a plan that you create for the investment of your
selling time over the next 30 days. You
do one every month, at the beginning of the month.
Normally,
it will take you 30 to 90 minutes. In
it, you complete a two-page form that asks you to identify the most effective
actions you can take during the coming month, by category. For example, the monthly plan lists each of
your target accounts, and asks for a one-line description of what progress you
want to make this month in each of those accounts.
If
your company expects higher performance on key product lines, then planning for
this month’s efforts in regard to those is another category.
If
you have some expectations for acquiring new customers, those efforts are
described and to which you are committed.
You
identify those opportunities that are closest to the money, and describe what
progress you are going to make to bring them to closure.
You
identify and commit to your efforts to improve yourself this month.
All
of these are areas on which you focus, make decisions about, and then commit in
writing to specific actions.
The
result? A plan for the most effective
use of your sales time next month.
It
is a regular discipline of the best. To
learn more, consider The
Kahle Way® Distributor Selling System, or The Kahle Way®
Business-to-Business Selling System.
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