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Take the Actions That Create Appointments
Actions are the only things that produce results. When appointments are the target, there are specific actions to take, in a sequence, that will get them on the calendar, get them accepted via invitation, and get the result intended – namely, the sale. Here they are in chronological order:
- Organize your calendar to schedule 8-10 appointments per week – at times YOU set.
- Enter EACH customer interaction INTENDING to accomplish a sale or an appointment.
- Recognize when an appointment WILL be …
What is Your Relationship to Organization?
As a natural list maker, it still surprises me when I work with someone who relies solely on a daily to-do list and doesn’t use a calendar. Is that you?
A daily to-do list is an insufficient structure for organizing actions in time. They are good vehicles for prioritizing results per day…but using them exclusively fosters high stress and a narrow perspective…which is why I encourage using a calendar with at least a weekly view. It encourages a wider vision of the time allowed and the best tim…
Sell it or Schedule it: Train it and Coach it.
Now that you know the elements of Sell it or Schedule it, what are the skills to develop to train it or to coach your sales associates?
If you need to increase the team close ratio, what are the actions in the sales process that will accomplish that? Which steps in Sell it or Schedule it will raise their success rate? How are you going to do that?
And once you train a selling skill, how are going to coach it - formally and Informally?
How will you structure your observations on the floor to wa…
How will you structure your observations on the floor to wa…
Sell it or Schedule it: Know it and Demonstrate it.
We all nod in agreement when someone says, “You need to lead by example.”And yet, when put to the test to demonstrate the process that the salespeople are expected to execute, many sales managers would fail. So I ask you, how would you do with that?
Are you able to demonstrate 'Sell it or Schedule it' by taking a sales opportunity in the showroom and executing the process from start to finish…including getting a sale or getting an appointment?
Being able to demonstrate selling actions that pro…
Sell it or Schedule it…or “You Do You.”
If you manage a sales team, your role is to have each of them make their goals and improve their performance… and if they do, then you make YOUR goal, which is the SHOWROOM goal.
(Yes, the showroom goal is YOUR goal.)
And to do that, you need structures and actions and a methodology to teach from, or you will be managing your team from your own behavioral preferences and your own selling autobiography.
That doesn’t mean that what you did when you were a salesperson was wrong or deficient, esp…
June is…a good practice month.
It’s hard to imagine that less sales traffic would be a good thing…and yet it can be.
If traffic is off, you can spend more time with each opportunity and increase the chance to close and to close for bigger tickets.
What makes the difference is intention.
Intention to focus on creating an outcome with each and every opportunity. The intention is to sell it or schedule it. Not to sell it or follow up… to sell it or schedule it.
If you notice that you are not scheduling at least 20% of your…
Organizing Actions in Time
“Time Management” is a misnomer because you cannot manage time. You can, however, manage ACTIONS in time.
Begin with your targets – what you WANT to accomplish. And working back from them, identify the actions that need to happen to achieve them. Start small and plan the actions at the best time to execute them and to achieve the result.
Plan a week at a time and support the week with a daily to-do list...but expand your perspective beyond one day…don’t rely on a daily list to manage a week …
New Habits
Now that you have picked an imperfection to work on (and if you haven’t, please do…tardiness is clearly one that can always be addressed if it’s an issue for you), how is it going?
What are the structures you put in place to help you? Did you put alerts on your phone to remind you to do something (practice a new action, get out the door!) or recurring actions in your calendar to start to build a new skill?
Building habits takes intention, prompting, repetition, patience, adjustment…and celebr…
Calling Unsold Opportunities
If you have neither closed the sale nor scheduled an appointment to meet or speak again with a prospect, calling to see how their process is unfolding IS the next action to take. Always.
It’s a judgment call as to WHEN to reach out, and I invite everyone to examine their follow-up on unsold opportunities to see if you have a process in place (such as reaching out 48 hours after contact unless otherwise noted). At the very least, start by reaching out with a ‘great to meet you!’ email or text……
GRATEFUL FOLLOW-UP
For many salespeople (including myself) follow-up is the weakest skill. It takes scheduling, organizing, and consistent action for follow up to be effective. It takes doing things you don’t want to do. It takes failing – a lot! – and trying again. It takes rigorous evaluation and measurement to improve and build the follow-up muscle. And it never, ever ends.
Whether cold or warm calls, managing web leads or referrals, follow-up is a skill and a practice of patience and persistence. It will ALWA…
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