Posted by: Bryan Waldon Pope in Untagged on
Feb 22, 2010
In my article, "An 80/20 Rule That Boosts Sales Fast," I talked about making time to get to the meat of your sales efforts-to actually go out and sell. That's extremely important. Just as important is taking time to train for your sales efforts.
Think for a moment about an athlete who has impressed you with his or her abilities. It goes without saying that the athlete wouldn't be able to perform in such a manner without extensive training. That training includes study, practice, receiving coaching from others, and, of course, repeated performances in real-life situations.
We readily accept the need for training in athletic situations if we intend to win, so why would we expect anything different in sales situations? It doesn't make much sense, but somehow thousands upon thousands of would-be salespeople hit the streets, get on the phone, and engage in other sales activities every day with the equivalent training comparison of an elementary school kid jumping in on a professional basketball game. The results just aren't going to be impressive.
Are you the person responsible for sales in your organization? If not, who is? Once a responsible party is identified, what is he or she doing to get trained or to train those who are on the front lines, charged with the duty of making sales happen?
Posted by: Bryan Waldon Pope in Untagged on
Feb 15, 2010
Here's one more 80/20 rule that can significantly improve your revenues:
If you are a multiple-hat-wearing business owner and one of your duties is to play the role of salesperson, allocate 80% of your time that is not being spent on production (billable hours, paid gigs with clients, etc.) and spend it in focused sales mode. The other available 20% of your non-production time can be used for administrative tasks. Most people in this situation have this ratio backwards, or worse. If abiding by this rule doesn't give you ample time to sell, meet administrative tasks, and keep your production levels where they need to be, it's time to add the right people to your team and share the load.
If your company has full-time salespeople, make sure they are spending 80% of their time actually selling and not getting caught up in the administrative side of the sales process, as far too many salespeople do. If completing bid documents, overseeing the fulfillment side of serving the company's clients, or other such tasks are taking more than 20% of your salespeople's time, rethink your process. Your salespeople need to be in front of clients and prospects (live, by phone, online, etc.) to be effective. Shuffling papers and getting bogged down in post-sale fulfillment isn't doing your salespeople, your company, or your clients any favors.
Of course, the 80/20 split is a guideline. Discover what works best for your situation through active testing. Plan. Act. See results.
Posted by: Bryan Waldon Pope in Untagged on
Feb 1, 2010
I was driving just north of Miami last week when I saw something interesting--a billboard for a hospital with a live, digital readout of the current wait time in their ER. While I can't imagine anyone making a decision to go to an ER in a moment of need based on a billboard they happen to see, I do see great value in this approach.
As long as the billboard is truly working in real time and doesn't always say there is a 15 minute wait, as it did that morning (and assuming the wait time is always relatively short), this message is much more powerful that simply having a billboard that says, "Short wait times," or something similar. The message is developed in the minds of the billboard's readers over time so when they do have an emergency, this hospital is the only place to consider going.
What if a restaurant billboard had the same thing right before the offramp to which it is located? What about a mortgage broker who has the real-time average timeframe of mortgages completed that month, or a real estate agent who marks how many homes she has sold that quarter? The opportunities are limitless. How can this idea apply to your business?
Here's to your marketing success!
Bryan Waldon Pope
Posted by: Bryan Waldon Pope in Untagged on
Feb 1, 2010
I was driving just north of Miami last week when I saw something interesting--a billboard for a hospital with a live, digital readout of the current wait time in their ER. While I can't imagine anyone making a decision to go to an ER in a moment of need based on a billboard they happen to see, I do see great value in this approach.
As long as the billboard is truly working in real time and doesn't always say there is a 15 minute wait, as it did that morning (and assuming the wait time is always relatively short), this message is much more powerful that simply having a billboard that says, "Short wait times," or something similar. The message is developed in the minds of the billboard's readers over time so when they do have an emergency, this hospital is the only place to consider going.
What if a restaurant billboard had the same thing right before the offramp to which it is located? What about a mortgage broker who has the real-time average timeframe of mortgages completed that month, or a real estate agent who marks how many homes she has sold that quarter? The opportunities are limitless. How can this idea apply to your business?
Here's to your marketing success!
Bryan Waldon Pope
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