Time Management and Sales

[jpanarra]

Jumping into the field as a salesperson is a massive shift in mindset.

The learning curve for field salespeople in recent years the pressures have increased dramatically in every aspect. Especially when it comes to the technical side of things. Nowadays customers are far more sophisticated, more demanding, harder to find, and behind layers of gatekeepers. Trying to get to voicemail and a response through email is far more difficult than it has been in the past. Making the job more difficult. The supply chain issue right now might actually be a lifeline for many salespeople/entrepreneurs if they know where to look.

Each phone call is one more task and one more investment of time with what can feel like is a wasted endeavor. As of today, companies are scrambling to offer products and services offered by many salespeople that have been disrupted by the supply chain issues along with the mass exodus of knowledgeable people. This still doesn't change the fact that the number of items being sold has shown an increase over the past 2 years. This includes acquisitions, new products, and services that the sales individual will have to learn to try and offer to their customers. So, it's not just the increased demand to sell, it's the increased demand to learn about said products. To be successful, be prepared to study and learn more than the next guy and you'll be much more effective in your efforts.

The job can easily feel overwhelming especially when it's laid out to be similar to an entrepreneur and easily can get overwhelming. The hours invested can cause one to be more stressed out. Impacting personal relationships such as spouses, children, and other people in your life. It's easy to pile up the hours and having too much to do and not having enough time to do it. That's why I feel like the typical time management tools don't always align with our day to day. It's our role to be the disrupters instead of trying to avoid disruptions, we are the ones causing it. Making the circumstances unique to the individual.

So changing your focus to improving time management to be more effective instead of efficient with your time. Effective time management is the goal to try and eliminate the things that wear you down, sap your spirit. Try to find something that'll simulate your psyche and increase your functional output.

This thread will be my documentation of what I'm attempting to hone my time management skills to make sure that I'm as effective as possible while maintaining my sanity and hapiness.

 

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[jpanarra]

How many times have you gotten up in the morning and you had no idea what you were going to do that day. Let alone having a structured schedule laid out in front of you. How often have you arrived at location X for a sale and realized you didn't have everything you needed for that meeting?

I'm guilty of the above, I have a tendency to act before I think. I am more than aware that it's a frequently occurring fallacy that impacts even the best of us. My personality is someone who likes to seek problems and fix them. Which leads me to bounce off many different things and seeing the outcome of our work. The issue is there's a lot of energy behind it but its lacking focus to be effective.

I'll like to use an analogy; I like to liken myself as a lone wolf out looking for food. Once the wolf gets a whiff of a bird, they get hyper fixated and chase it down. Once they find something they dial in that focus and uses his energy efficiently and catches his meal. Now, imagine the wolf found his way into a chicken coop. That laser focus on the prior hunt is nonexistent, especially when there is "opportunity" everywhere you look. Once the bird comes close, he's going to try and grab it and then shift to another bird instead of a focused mindset. Before long the wolf will be expending a tremendous amount of energy. Could you imagine how much he could accomplish and catch once he dials in and focuses on one bird at a time.

The same applies for me and sales, I need to gather my energy and channel it in a direction where I can be most effective.

It comes down to discipline, but discipline without an effective structure is that energy expended at a lower function. Until a system is implemented, I can become like the wolf with laser focus IN the chicken coop.

I intend to do that with planning and execution. (How atypical!)

The planning cycle I plan on implementing and as always, I'm open to feedback.

• An annual planning session of 1-2 days (over time with more clients 3-4 days might be needed)
• Quarterly Planning session of 4 hours to 6 hours
• Monthly planning Session of 4 hours
• Weekly Plans (should take less than a hour)
• Daily Prep (30 minutes the day prior)
• Pre-call prep (5-15 mins depending on the prospect)
• Post-call reflection (5-15 mins depending on the prospect)

 

[jpanarra]

Annual Planning Session

Find a space where you can work virtually uninterrupted. It can be at home, work, or even at a local library (in the US more than likely you can book conference rooms and study rooms in the library).

Materials that a salesperson will need (entrepreneur as well if they manage their own sales)

• key products, Services,
• Print out of last year's sales
• Maps of your territory
• Anything you want to review

Objective of the planning session (What to have in hand to deem it a successful session)

• A set of sales goals
• A basic strategy for reaching those goals
• A well-defined and written out ABC analysis of your customers and prospects
• Individual goals and strategic plans for each of your key (A) accounts
• A basic territory plan
• A set of learning Goals

Set of Sales Goals
If you work for a company like I do, more than likely they're already predetermined for you... If not, it'll be up to you to determine on your products/services what you're going to be gunning for. Common categories for said goals are

• Total Sales
• Total gross margin (net sales - cost of goods sold = total gross margin)
• Number of Units
• Total Sales per product category ( can be dollars, units, or total gross margin)
• Number of accounts acquired

You can pick anything you desire to be a measure of your success in sales, but those are the most common and viable. I would recommend anything between 3-5 different goals. Too many goals can cause you to diffuse your focus.

I'm going to give an example

Assume I sell sophisticated HVAC equipment and supply to 3 different market segments - Manufacturing, Commerical Operations, and Public Municipal buildings. My product line consists of large roof-top HVAC units, full building installation service, and "clean"-air studies. So the categories I will choose are

1. Total Sales

2. Total number of HVAC units

3 Total number of installs by us

4. Number of new accounts

5. Total sales of services

Now once the category is established - I will need to create a specific number that "feels" unachievable but still viable. This is where the talent and confidence come in to generate success. You have to understand where the company or business stands and your understanding of the current state of the market regarding your products and services.

I intend to look at each account one by one and think about its likely contribution to each of the categories I have. I have to capture the potential, consider any new possible situations, and determine a realistic goal.

Let me give you an example, I'm going through this alphabetically.

So now I have Aaron Manufacturing. We know this account has a new expansion coming up and will need to add 2 more HVAC units on the roof. I might be able to get them to upgrade a couple of their older units too if I try to consolidate them. I know the competition isn't active here, so I expect to get their business for the equipment and install. That means 3 new machines sale of about $60k each along with a $10k install charge on each unit. A potential sale that's more than likely to go through if I do my due diligence and will bring me $210k next year.

The next account is Allisonville Schools, now there they need to replace a number of HVAC units. They are a state service and have their limited list of service providers. So, I know they won't pay for the installation service, but They'll grab the unit. On a side note, they have a new maintenance manager, so it'll be even harder for me because the prior established trust is nonexistent. So the potential there is about $50k per machine sale, so the potential is $150k.

Now I will be going through each and every account like this, giving them each a moment to spend time in my head. Let's say I did this for all of my accounts and the final numbers are.

1. Total Sales = $2,000,000

2. Total number of HVAC units = 25

3 Total number of installs by us = 13

4. Number of new accounts = 5

5. Total sales of services = $600,000

So, the final goal setting exercise ends up broken down into quarters like this

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
Sales	$500,000	$500,000	$500,000	$500,000	$2,000,000
Units	6	6	6	7	25
Installs	3	3	3	4	13
New Accounts	1	1	1	2	5
Service Sales	$150,000	$150,000	$150,000	$150,000	$600,000

Now this is not the final sheet, I still need to work on the quarterly and/or monthly basis to figure out your target for your short-term goals.



Next time I'm going to write up how I do the ABC analysis and planning for the key accounts.