Organized Sales: Create a Plan for Success
October 15, 2017
David Stern
How to meet your sales goals through logical, systematic and orderly procedures
In sales, it’s rare that you can reach any of your goals without planning for getting there. Whether it’s a product or service you’re selling, you not only need to be organized, you need to create tactics and strategies that will make your organized sales an assured success.
Work effectively within established time frames and priorities.
We all know everyone gets the same 24 hours in the day, and within most work days, it’s only eight, maybe nine. So what do you do with that time? What could you do more quickly, more efficiently, or maybe even not at all?
Look for the time wasters in your business, or create a way to organize your tasks on a schedule. It’s amazing how eye-opening writing these things down in a time block can help you work better. And beyond writing these down, you need to follow your own schedule.
Utilize logical, practical and efficient approaches.
How do you work? If you have a lot you want to accomplish - following up with a customer, researching leads, making new contacts - opt to make a call or send emails to connect first before you head out the door. It’s much faster, and can save you wasted time if your prospect isn’t in the office or if your customer simply can’t meet you in person due to scheduling conflicts.
Look at your time as a precious commodity, and you’ll find ways to stay connected with your clients without working harder than you need to. When you’ve made your schedule and the tasks on it efficient, you will ultimately be creating more time for developing your existing clients as well as your new leads.
To go a little deeper into planning, develop your own procedures, processes and systems for order, accuracy, efficiency and productivity. In other words, create a structure that makes all of these important tasks attainable, and leaves little room for error. When there is error, make sure you have a contingency plan to minimize the waste on your time, and the risk to your relationship with your customer.
Prioritize tasks for optimum productivity.
Of course, salespeople know the value of making a personal connection with their clients and prospects, so time management should place a priority on these important meetings. So, take the schedule that you’re creating, and make sure the most important items on your list are scheduled first.
Once you’ve identified what your priorities are, make sure to allocate, adjust and manage your resources to make sure these priorities get the attention they deserve. Your discipline and focus are such resources, and they should be directed to make sure your most important goals are met.
Think about it. How many times have you meant to get to something, and you run out of time. Distractions will always steal your time, and if you create a prioritized list first and foremost, these time thieves won’t have the opportunity.
If you are someone that hasn’t mastered organization, this is going to be a tough road. For all of the above suggestions, then, find an accountability partner. I coach salespeople to get organized, but more importantly to stay organized and focused on achieving their goals. We all need support in our careers, and when we are our own bosses, we need to make sure our employee is performing at his or her most efficient and effective. The clients we all serve deserve nothing less than our very best, and it can be delivered through organized sales.
David Stern
How to meet your sales goals through logical, systematic and orderly procedures
In sales, it’s rare that you can reach any of your goals without planning for getting there. Whether it’s a product or service you’re selling, you not only need to be organized, you need to create tactics and strategies that will make your organized sales an assured success.
Work effectively within established time frames and priorities.
We all know everyone gets the same 24 hours in the day, and within most work days, it’s only eight, maybe nine. So what do you do with that time? What could you do more quickly, more efficiently, or maybe even not at all?
Look for the time wasters in your business, or create a way to organize your tasks on a schedule. It’s amazing how eye-opening writing these things down in a time block can help you work better. And beyond writing these down, you need to follow your own schedule.
Utilize logical, practical and efficient approaches.
How do you work? If you have a lot you want to accomplish - following up with a customer, researching leads, making new contacts - opt to make a call or send emails to connect first before you head out the door. It’s much faster, and can save you wasted time if your prospect isn’t in the office or if your customer simply can’t meet you in person due to scheduling conflicts.
Look at your time as a precious commodity, and you’ll find ways to stay connected with your clients without working harder than you need to. When you’ve made your schedule and the tasks on it efficient, you will ultimately be creating more time for developing your existing clients as well as your new leads.
To go a little deeper into planning, develop your own procedures, processes and systems for order, accuracy, efficiency and productivity. In other words, create a structure that makes all of these important tasks attainable, and leaves little room for error. When there is error, make sure you have a contingency plan to minimize the waste on your time, and the risk to your relationship with your customer.
Prioritize tasks for optimum productivity.
Of course, salespeople know the value of making a personal connection with their clients and prospects, so time management should place a priority on these important meetings. So, take the schedule that you’re creating, and make sure the most important items on your list are scheduled first.
Once you’ve identified what your priorities are, make sure to allocate, adjust and manage your resources to make sure these priorities get the attention they deserve. Your discipline and focus are such resources, and they should be directed to make sure your most important goals are met.
Think about it. How many times have you meant to get to something, and you run out of time. Distractions will always steal your time, and if you create a prioritized list first and foremost, these time thieves won’t have the opportunity.
If you are someone that hasn’t mastered organization, this is going to be a tough road. For all of the above suggestions, then, find an accountability partner. I coach salespeople to get organized, but more importantly to stay organized and focused on achieving their goals. We all need support in our careers, and when we are our own bosses, we need to make sure our employee is performing at his or her most efficient and effective. The clients we all serve deserve nothing less than our very best, and it can be delivered through organized sales.