This post will take you five minutes to read.
Are you the type of person that would take the time to check it out?
Or are you behind on things you aren’t yet ready for.
These 5 minutes could change your career.
Because…
It involves discipline, thinking through different scenarios, being prepared for meetings. In some cases, it only takes a few minutes to actually do it.
To put it simply…
They always show up prepared. They always practice their talk tracks before having to use them. They always have their weeks planned out in advance for success. They always have their proposals completed days before they present them. They always follow the process.
No matter what, they don’t let anything get in the way of being ready for whatever activity, meeting, or phone call has in store for them.
Ironically, the rest of the sales force, including sales management, tends to wing everything.
They show up to their meetings fully prepared to wing it. They practice their talk tracks on their clients. They plan their day while they are in the middle of living it. They complete their proposals right before they have to present them and they constantly look for shortcuts rather than to follow the proven sales process of their industry.
Does anything sound familiar? There could be one simple tweak standing between yourself, or your sales team over achieving their goals.
The difference between winging something and being prepared could mean as little as 5 minutes.
It’s like dental hygiene. Just a few minutes a day in the morning and evening can result in perfect teeth for life. Yet why is it so challenging for everyone to do it?
Because it’s normal for people to overlook, procrastinate, and go through the motions on things that don’t seem incredibly important. Except, we don’t always wing it. We don’t wing things that we are interested in.
Let me give you an example…
Hypothetically speaking, let’s say you are single and dating.
You’re not one for these Apps that help you find someone with the swipe of your finger and you are too busy to go to any networking events to meet people. Lucky for you, your best friend in the whole world just told you that they have a blind date for you to go on!
Are you interested? Would you go on it?
Of course you trust your friend. They know you better than anyone.
Let’s say you’re considering going on this date. Would you just go without asking any questions about the person they are setting you up with?
Would you just wing it?
Of course not, right? You would most likely flood your friends with questions like:
What do they look like? Where are they from? Why do they think we could be a good fit? How old are they? Where did they go to school? What do they like to do for fun? And many more questions that I’m sure you are thinking of right now.
What’s the moral of this story here?
You would never do a blind date without asking some of these questions beforehand. That would just be crazy!
Finding this information out prior to the date, in just a few minutes of asking qualifying questions, could help ensure this meeting with your new friend is a memorable one with you making a great first impression.
In sales, we have meetings every day. Some are internal meetings and hopefully, most of them are with clients. These meetings are just like blind dates. Do you think the top sales performers prepare for each of these meetings to go well? Absolutely.
We would ask better questions before and during the meeting!
Some of the questions might sound a little like:
Who am I meeting with? Why did they agree to the meeting? What challenges could they be facing in their business? How might I be able to help them? What value could I share with them that my company does? What could I bring to illustrate that?
What did you know about your client before you went to the meeting? What questions were you prepared to ask? What grade would you give yourself in terms of preparation? Or were you just prepared to talk about yourself and what your business had to offer.
You could apply this same thought process of preparation for any internal/external meetings, cold calling in the field, or prospecting over the phone.
The top sales performers in your company don’t necessarily have more skill than you.
I can guarantee you one thing though. They don’t wing anything.
With so much riding on every sales activity you do in a month, you can’t afford to waste it by showing up blind.
The top sales performers out there, besides making the most money, don’t wing anything. They take the few extra minutes to ensure they are prepared for anything they are a part of to be great.
Imagine if we all took this same mentality into our sales process. What would be the result?
Our sales talk tracks would improve. We would set more appointments. We would have more appointments close for a next step. We would have better proposals with more profit inside. We would have more deals closed. We would make more money.
Those five minutes could turn you into the next sales top performer.
“It always comes down to price…”
In the first bonus sales training episode of the In Between Sales Calls Podcast, Jason Scoggins shares a practical tip on how you can go the extra mile in sales and improve your results in your sales career.
The life of a sales person has no end. Is it possible to have a balanced life when you are a sales rep? Here are a few secrets to create your balanced life.
What to do when your sale is not a priority? If a client says your product or service is not a priority, that’s because you have failed to give them a reason to buy.
