Salespeople are quick to make up excuses as to why they haven’t been able to prospect as much as they should be.
What makes this funny is salespeople know they should be prospecting more — they know the reasons why they need to do it, but they just don’t do it.
Even though they know they should do it more, they don’t do some of the easiest things to allow them to have the time to prospect more.
The easiest is by taking advantage of the numerous open windows of time that emerge throughout the day, especially for the salesperson who spends time on the road.
If you spend any amount of time on the road or waiting for meetings to begin, then you know there are 5-15 minute pockets of time that could be converted to prospecting if you are ready.
Never leave your office without a file you can open quickly on your tablet or even a piece of pager with the names and phone numbers of 5-10 prospects, as well as a quick idea or two you could share with them when an open period arises.
The key is to be able to make the transition quickly from what it is you were doing to now prospecting. This is where most salespeople fail, as they can’t get in the groove fast enough, so they wind up merely wasting away the open window of time doing something else.
To help you get in the grove quickly, have an idea or two written down as to what you’re going to talk about when you call the prospect. It’s this simple note of what to say that will enable you to quickly shift gears and make the call.
Salespeople who use this technique of using open windows of time and being ready to make calls by having notes written out as to what to say are always going to be more successful.
Try it for two weeks and let me know your results.
I know you will be successful, and within a month of doing it, you will find it part of your daily behavior.
Copyright 2012, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
