Sales time? Where did it go?

Many people in business wear more that one hat. This means that the person responsible for a business’s sales and marketing activities may have several other areas of responsibility in the business.

Therein lies a trap.

Many activities carried out in a business are reactive; they are done as the result of outside motivation. We answer the phone because its ringing motivates us to do so; we lodge our tax documents because the tax authorities motivate us to do so. Most sales and marketing activities require pro-activity; we must motivate ourselves to do them. They also have a gestation period. The gestation period is the time lapse between the carrying out of the activity and the time when most of the resultant sales (and dollars through the door) can be expected. The gestation period will vary between activities, between products and between businesses. This means, especially in small business sales and marketing, we need to be working ahead of the game all the time.

For example, if we are about to undertake a marketing activity that has a gestation period of 3 months we know that we can’t expect much sales revenue from that activity before the 3 months has passed. If we carry out the activity now we will probably achieve a better sales result in the next quarter (but that is not going to help with this quarter’s results). If we are ‘too busy’ to carry out the activity now it is likely that next quarter’s results will be disappointing.

What do we do? Do we respond to today’s demands (that is, continue to put out today’s bushfires) or do we become pro-active and set about influencing next quarter’s sales results. We all know that the key here is to achieve balance between the demands of today and the opportunity of the future – but it’s not easy to do this when we wear more that one hat.

Here are a couple of things you can do to help yourself.

Firstly, design your own Perfect (or Ideal) Week template. Take a blank piece of A4 and rule enough vertical lines to create a column for each day of your working week. Then rule 3 horizontal lines to create a number of timeslots (the number, obviously, being dependent on the number of working days in your working week).

On a separate sheet draw up a list of the various activities (pro-active and reactive) that need to be done in a typical week – be sure to include your sales and marketing activity.

Then, imagining that you have absolute control over your time, allocate the activities listed to the most appropriate timeslots. Make the allocation on the basis of your ‘best’ time for doing each activity. You now know what a Perfect Week looks like. The challenge is to, as much as you are able, use your time according to your Perfect Week template. “Too hard” you say? The fact is that most of us have more control over our time than we think we have – nevertheless we surrender that control to others and then complain about it.

Secondly, record and analyse your use of time. Create a simple Time Log containing categories that suit you and record how much time you spend on them. Be sure to include both reactive and pro-active activities in your categories. Some examples are - Business planning, Accounting, Administration, Travelling, Lead generation, Lead conversion (sales calls and visits), Marketing to existing customers. Record your time usage at least hourly as you work through the day.

Set up a spreadsheet and, at the end of each working week, enter the details of your time usage. Create some formulae in the spreadsheet to calculate the total time you spend on each activity, the percentage of working time spent on each activity and the percentage of working time spent on pro-active activities. In the beginning you may be dismayed by the low percentage of time you are spending on the pro-active. Over time however, by using your Perfect Week template as a support, you can work towards achieving a better balance.

In summary - we have all the time there is. Some use it better than others by focusing on ‘first things first’ – the trick is to choose the correct ‘first things’. If we get this choice right and focus on them until they are completed we can expect improved sales and improved profits.


(The up-coming post for Monday 9/2 is It's about numbers. It's a reminder about the value of sales activity statistics.)

Keep the weeds out of your sales garden

This is about dealing with competitors who infiltrate your customer base

First categorise your customer base. Then, starting with your A class customers review each one and, using your knowledge of your customer, list those products that you could supply but that must be being supplied by a competitor. For example, if you supply restaurants with crockery, glassware and cutlery and one of your restaurant customers buys crockery and glassware from you but not cutlery you can assume that a competitor of yours is supplying the cutlery.

After doing this analysis of your A class customers select one item as the first item you are going to try to take away from your competitor (make sure that it’s a profitable one) and develop a strategy for doing so. This may involve asking your customer why he uses your competitor for cutlery. Do all you can to win the cutlery business and then select another item to focus on.

When using this approach focus on only one product per customer at a time; get an answer YES or NO and only then move on to another product or service.

Continue this approach with each of your A class customers (and then maybe some of the Bs who could be turned into As) - you may surprise yourself with the improvement in sales you can achieve without adding a single customer to your list.


(The up-coming post for Friday 6/2 is Sales time? Where did it go? It's about time management in selling.)

There are no magic words!

There is no abracadabra.

As far as I am aware there is no single magic word or phrase that will turn a sales disaster into a sales success.

Sales successes come as the result of sound technique and quality prospecting.

Conversely sales disasters result from poor technique (or total absence of it!) and/or poor quality prospecting.

So, if your sales results are less than you want them to be don't look for the abracadabra.

Review your prospecting practices - are you trying to get A class results from B class prospects? Then review your sales technique - is it based on a sound structure or do you fly by the seat of your pants?


(The up-coming post for Wednesday 4/2 is Keep the weeds out of your sales garden. It's about protecting your customer base from intruding competitors.)