| To balance your personal and professional life in healthy ways, imagine your allotment of time in terms of a "wheel" -- a "Wheel of Activity."
At the hub of your wheel is planning. Planning is a vital aspect of every salesperson's day. By planning, we mean deciding how you're going to use each precious hour of your time, including objectives of each sales call. Understanding that planning is the hub of all salespeople's activity, the "Wheel of Activity" has five parts - or spokes - on how to spend time effectively: prospecting, selling, service, personal and study.
* Prospecting
Prospecting is easier if you have a routine in place, such as an hour set aside each morning - or a block of time each week - during which you make cold calls, send emails, or follow-up calls. Evidence-based research discovered Thursdays to be the best time for first contacting.
* Selling
The second spoke is "selling." It doesn't do much good to have prospects if you don't follow up. That's the essence of selling: finding the people to sell and selling the people you find.
Selling relates directly to the hub of your wheel -- planning. You want to use your golden hours for selling only. Every industry has its own prime hours, during which you're most successful at contacting and meeting with prospects.
Whenever those times are that prospects are most willing to meet with you in person or virtually, spend as much of this time actually selling and shelving less productive tasks, such as writing reports, until later.
* Service
"Service" is the third spoke: If you don't forget your customers, they won't forget you. Plan time to give service as an ongoing activity.
If you don't regularly interact with clients between sales, an effective step you can take now is to spend 15 minutes daily calling one or more existing clients for the sole purpose of learning how that person is doing. These small time deposits will yield tremendous future rewards.
* Personal
The fourth spoke is the "personal" spoke. It puts fun and relaxation into your life. It means finding time for yourself and loved ones to relax and recharge your batteries.
If personal activities are sacrificed in place of business pursuits for too long, the result can be burnout, fatigue and broken relationships.
* Study
School's never out for the sales professional; the more we learn, the more we realize how much there is to learn. This makes "study" the fifth and final spoke in the "Wheel of Activity."
We're living in a rapidly changing world. We are inundated with massive amounts of information. However, if the average person committed to reading only 15 minutes each day, he or she would read more than 18 books annually.
By the way, when was the last year you read 18 or more books?
Good luck and good selling! |
