THEORY VERSUS ACTION… author and business advisor Josh Kaufman has an interesting opinion on one aspect of advanced education. He says, “Business schools make a fortune forcing their students to absorb a huge amount of information. The majority of it is theoretical. The majority of that is useless.” There certainly is no shortage of “theory” available when it comes to business in general. Go to any bookstore and you will find unlimited quantities of business rhetoric. This is definitely the case for the Business of Sales.
There are not many books out there as succinct as Jeffrey Gitomer’s “Little Red Book of Selling”. Too many Salespeople get bogged down performing tasks that have nothing to do with Selling. They spend an inordinate amount of time on “stuff”. This Sales Tip is all about separating Theory from Action.
Here is your ACTION STEP… there are two main functions that all Salespeople perform every day. You are either involved in Selling or you are working on “stuff”. Forget about the “stuff”…focus on Selling. Get good at moving past the “stuff”. The business of Selling is very basic… here’s all you need to know:
1. Prospect for new business every day
2. Generate leads and prequalify them
3. Follow-up… if they have promise, keep them… if not, throw them away
4. Make appointments with these leads, go and see them and present your product/service professionally
5. Handle objections, close… and close again
6. Don’t look for extra work or opportunities to over-service… good customers don’t have time for that (and neither do you!)
7. Keep this cycle in motion every day, repeat it over and over… don’t break the chain
Never forget that “taking action” solves almost every problem you will run into in your Sales Business. By following the above 7 steps every day, you are Taking Action. Everything else is just “stuff”. Here’s a good ratio to follow… 80% of your time should be spent taking action (meaning following the above steps) and 20% of your time should be spent on “stuff”. The more you keep that ratio under control, the more successful you will be in your Sales career. Follow the 80-20 rule. You must create the habits to make that happen every day. Focusing on “stuff” doesn’t pay very well, taking action does! NO Excuses.