So – how much of your team’s resources last week was focused on income generating activities? 100% perfect, 50% or I know in some cases it may even be as low as 25-30%.
Even those members of your team employed in full-time sales roles, how much of their valuable time was spent on the right sales activity at the most productive times of the week? Saving the admin, research, and box filling until after hours or at least after core sales success hours?
It’s so crucial to get this habit ingrained in your culture, starting with yourself. As your business continues to grow it’s so easy to allow yourself to be dragged off focus with daily ‘stuff’, operations and sales admin and guess what, if your team see you being undisciplined they will follow your lead.
It’s currently 19:49 and I’m on a train writing this email to send out this evening – I could have done it earlier in the day (it would have been the more comfortable choice) but instead I was making the best use of my own sales hours. And I’m currently a CEO like so many of you, one who is constantly juggling sales alongside operational needs, team requirements, marketing campaigns and in my case, also some client delivery, all of which eats into my sales hours.
It’s not perfect but everyone in my team also knows that without that client sales order – nobody and nothing else is required, so they help and support me by releasing me from some of the other ‘stuff’ to allow me to maximise the hours available for sales – do your team do the same for you?
The end of the month is fast approaching, hopefully, you are already at target, but if not, how many productive sales hours do you have left this month and what are you going to do to ensure they are utilised correctly?
This Harvard infographic published by software sales company InsideSales is a great tool to have up in your office to remind everyone of the most productive sales hours are in each week.
I have them marked in my diary every week;
- 8am – 9am on a Wed and Thursday morning and
- 4pm – 6pm on a Wed and Thursday evening
If I’m not able to focus on pure client sales activity 24/7 – which in my personal case I’m not – then I attempt to maximise the times during the week when I know my hit rate will be higher.
Do your team ever call before 9am when a CEO’s PA is unlikely to have started work?
Or call their clients at 5.30pm when they are possibly in the car commuting home?
What can you do THIS WEEK with your team to not only increase the amount of sales focus but to maximise sales effectiveness by better use of the available sales hours?
Imagine if you increased your sales effectiveness by say 30% – imagine what it would do to your results!