c09 JWBT014-Roberts October 20, 2008 14:34 Printer: Courier Westford, Westford, MA
WEEK 9
c09 JWBT014-Roberts October 20, 2008 14:34 Printer: Courier Westford, Westford, MA
Prioritize 43 he consistently placed in the top 1,500 in sales contests. He won trips to Bermuda, Mexico, Florida, and other resort locations. He also made Merrill Lynch’s prestigious Executive Club for top sales- people three years running, overcoming his deafness to pull down
$300,000 a year at Merrill Lynch.
STEPHEN’S NOT-SO-SECRET SECRET
When I got to know Stephen, I was curious as to how he went about his daily work as a stockbroker. Although I have my own systems in place for setting goals, making calls, and handling paperwork, I was curious to see if Stephen’s deafness called for anything special during the course of the normal working day.
After spending some time with Stephen, I discovered that aside from the special VCO (voice carry over) telephone technology he used, Stephen pretty much went about his day just like you or me or any other top producer. (VCO technology enables a person to speak to the other party over the phone and read the person’s replies on screen.) He networked. He called past customers. He asked for referrals. He wrote down his goals and planned his day around achieving them.
Perhaps most of all Stephen prioritized. How many times have you heard that you’re supposed to do “first things first”? Probably a million. But how many salespeople get sidetracked every day with frivolous errands, nonproductive calls, and administrative details?
Far too many. Even a top performer like me has to guard against these kinds of time-wasters. I don’t always succeed entirely, but I think we concentrate better than almost anyone on tasks that are most important.
How to do this? Well, let’s start by having Stephen tell us about his method at Merrill Lynch:
The clients I approached first were always the top 20 clients that pro- duced 80 percent of my business. I called these top 20 clients almost every day to keep them informed about market conditions. They were most active in the investment decision-making process and followed my advice without the usual delaying tactics, like “Let me speak to my wife, son, daughter, lawyer, mother, father, sister, etc.” It helped that they were decisive! Dealing with these kinds of clients made my job a bit easier. They were wealthy businessmen, doctors, lawyers, business
c09 JWBT014-Roberts October 20, 2008 14:34 Printer: Courier Westford, Westford, MA
44 52 Weeks of Sales Success
owners, socialites, etc. They were busy people, and for them time was at premium (as was mine), so we respected each others’ time on the telephone. We often kept our telephone conversations quick, brief, and to the point. I rarely “chatted” with clients. Chatting was reserved for in-person appointments over breakfast, lunch, dinner, or coffee.
Once Stephen took care of his most productive clients, he would then work his way down the list of his remaining customers. “On average,” he says, “all my clients heard from me at least once a month either by telephone, fax, a letter, a short note, or an e-mail.
Communication was absolutely essential.”
REDISCOVER YOUR A-B-Cs
Prioritizing around your top 20 clients is just one way to focus.
Another salesperson I know divides his clients into A, B, and C piles. He works on the A clients first and hardest. These are the ones who produce the most business, either directly or by referrals.
Only when the A list has been serviced does he turn to the B list.
These are lesser prospects who with a little work might become A prospects one day. The C list is mostly the “discard pile”—those clients or deals that produce either so little profit or so much trouble that they’re better off going elsewhere.
Here’s another technique. Several years ago, when I first met my friend Allan Domb, the condominium king of Philadelphia, I was impressed by his ability to rank all these calls in order of importance. Allan notes what each call will be worth to him in dollars. For example, if call A succeeds, it will be worth $1,000 to him; call B might be worth $500; and call C will probably produce only $50 for him. Naturally, Allen works the A call first, then the B, and finally the C.
Simple as these techniques sound, they have been absolutely essential to the success of these salespeople. This sort of prioritizing is as basic as when your mother told you to do your homework before going out to play. You do the difficult or the important stuff first, and the rest is easy. On the other hand, if you don’t take care of your most important clients first, when will you have time to catch up with them later on? Again, we all know this, but millions of salespeople, and millions more people in other walks of life, still ignore this need. Maybe we should listen to Mom more often!
c09 JWBT014-Roberts October 20, 2008 14:34 Printer: Courier Westford, Westford, MA
Prioritize 45 DAY JOB, NIGHT JOB
There are many other useful ways of prioritizing your daily tasks.
The novelist Elmore Leonard used to juggle his book writing with a daytime job at an advertising agency. He’d get up at 5AM, work on his latest novel for a couple of hours, and then go to work at the ad agency. Eventually, he became successful enough to chuck the day job and concentrate full-time on writing novels. But while he was doing both, getting his writing done early was his way of doing the most important job first.
Whether you use an A-B-C rating, or assign a dollar amount to each task, or make a list of your 20 top clients, you’ll have to develop a system. Without a system to prioritize tasks, you often waste time on less important matters.
It’s also very important to know yourself. Know how youfeelat different times of the day and use that information to assess when you are at your best. Some people are morning people, they get up early and sing with the birds, they hit the floor running, they typically make their to-do or to-call list in the evening, but they fizzle mid-afternoon. Or you may be the type who needs to have some “wake up time” to get rolling—reading the paper or creating your to-do list before you can begin talking with clients.
Whatever your preference is, don’t go against the grain. Identify the time of day when you feel best, and then touch base with your clients during that time. For instance, when I focus on my real estate business, I make it a point to call each of my sellers once a week.
I choose an evening the same day of the week. I have found that I am my most creative between the hours of 5 and 9 in the evening. I have to say that I didn’t recognize that myself—it was my wise and attentive second in command, Lois, who figured it out, as usual!
Ralph’s Rule: We salespeople face an overwhelming number of tasks each day. So do the important stuff first. It sounds simple, but you’d be surprised how many people ignore this basic advice.
c10 JWBT014-Roberts October 14, 2008 17:4 Printer: Courier Westford, Westford, MA