Randy Paush’s book, the Last Lecture, is still on the Best Seller list.  And as I read the book this past weekend, I see why.  There is a lot of wisdom in his stories and advice.  One in particular hit home with me…about time management.

As a person who works very hard and long to accomplish business priorities it is easy for me to spot that behavior in others too.  I observe many of the very successful sales people I work with are awesome time managers and get a lot done.  Yet, I see a commonality in that there are some life principles we can sometimes forget with our long To Do lists.  Randy recapped the principle of using our time effectively and wisely in his Last Lecture.  The bolded sections are Randy’s words:

• Time must be explicitly managed, like money.  Not to invest time on irrelevant details. Ever spend HOURS on a minute detail when getting ready for a client meeting?  And then miss some of the key points?
• You can always change your plan, but only if you have one. Planning is important – and the process of the identifying the outcome AND the steps to get there is what works.
• Ask yourself:  Are you spending your time on the right things?  You may have causes, goals, interests.  Are they even worth pursuing?  Take a look at your client and prospect list – where are you spending your time?
• Develop a good filing system.  So much is wasted looking for things that aren’t where they need to be – CRM systems CAN bring great efficiencies!
• Rethink the telephone.  Need to keep a call short?  Never put your feet up or get comfortable.  stand up!  Oh, how easy it is to extend a conversation with others and it is so important.  The key is to keep it to an appropriate length that gets the business accomplished, strengthens the relationship and then ends so both parties can get to other things.

In a house with teens the word “lecture” is not well received.  In this case, a lecture is just what I needed.  Thanks Randy. 

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Tags: learning, priorities

At the end of each year many Top 10 lists are published.  This Top 10 List is different.  It is the Top 10 Questions you should ask yourself (and answer) to set up for a more productive, healthy and happy 2009.

Planning and goal setting are two ongoing challenges and suggestions I often make.  Answering the following questions will reveal how effective your planning (and execution) was this year.

1. What are the successes I am most proud of?
2. What have I done to celebrate these successes?
3. What people do I surround myself with? or Who have I met this year that has impacted me in some way?
4. What goals, that were important to me, did I not reach?  Why?
5. Considering the development opportunities available to me this year, how have I applied what I learned?
6. What written content did I read?  What did I do with the information from the reading?
7. What person have I taken time to develop/coach?  or Who is better off now because of my relationship with them this past year?
8. What actions have I taken to better my life in some way?
9. What strengths do I possess that I can use at a higher level next year?
10. What obstacles must I work through so that I reach my goals for 2009?

May your answers give you pause to:

Recognize the good things you have experienced.

and

Purposefully plan for a great 2009!

Happy New Year!

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Filed Under: Uncategorized
Tags: focus, goal setting, priorities, productivity

A short work week – Yeah!  Yet as we close out 2008, we don’t want to miss any opportunities to set ourselves up for success next year.  Top producers make EVERY day matter. 

Three actions to take to make this week productive.

1.  Make a specific list of actions you NEED to take.  Then evaluate.  Are these actions just ‘fillers’ or ‘clean up’?  Make sure you have proactive customer-building actions on the list.

2.  Then make as many contacts as you can.  Plan for the contact to be short and to the point – to schedule time after the holidays.  Don’t wait to schedule the appointment early January, most people are in GREAT moods this time of year.  Its a perfect time to ask for appointments for the first week of January.  Before 9 a.m. this morning I already set up two appointments for January 6th! 

3.  Before you leave your office for holiday, reflect on the three things you are most proud of from this year.  Then make notes on the actions you can take as soon as you return post-holiday to duplicate them next year.

And there you have it – a  short list of productive actions for a short week.

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Filed Under: Sales Productivity
Tags: priorities, productivity, Sales Productivity, Sales Tips

Have you noticed the changing buying patterns in business these past few months?  The economy is forcing everyone to re-evaluate how business is conducted and who business is conducted with.  The smart sales pros know changes in buying patterns means we have to change too.  One way to maximize your sales productivity is to re-evaluate the prospects in your pipeline.

Recently I took a hard look at the l-o-n-g list of prospects for our company.  At first glance, I thought “Wow, we have a lot of potential business!”  (Whew!)   But then I started looking closer. 

And I realized…

These aren’t all prospects anymore!!  The likelihood of doing business with some of these people and companies in the next year was extremely low! 

I don’t know about you, but we have limits to our time, energy and resources to invest in our sales efforts.  Our priorities had been pulled out of whack these last 6 months.  The anticipation of what the recession might bring caused some of our clients to postpone scheduled services.  Yet there were other prospects that wanted to reconnect and reconsider our expertise in how to increase sales! 

Now the big question, “Where are we spending our time, efforts and energy?”

I challenged our team to consider some tough questions for each name on the prospect list.  In light of what is going on with the economy:

1. What do you know about this person or company?  How might the economy be affecting them?  What does this do for their need for what we provide?  Do they need us now more than ever?
2. When was our last contact and what happened? 
3. Where are you in the sales process?  Be realistic.  Are you in the beginning stages of building trust and a relationship?  Have you uncovered needs?  Are they open to a solution?  Is it time to tie WHAT you do to their needs?  Have you gone through the process and not asked them for a decision?
4. What is the likelihood of them moving to the next step in the sales process in the next 60 days?  The next 6 months?
5. Do they have money to spend on what you offer?
6. Are you talking to the decision maker?
7. What have you done to provide proof and validation of potential results?
8. What value can we provide them today to demonstrate our expertise and to help them?

We learned that we need to realign our efforts. Some of our prospects needs had changed and so must our approach to earning their business.  We also found that some prospects who took a lot of our time and energy were never going to ”buy”.  They were happy to have lots of free consulting and resources.  But no budget to spend.  This doesn’t mean we will ignore them, but they won’t take up so much of our time.

We’ve been working on the new approach for a month and are having very good results.  Recession or not, 2009 is looking bright because we are focusing on the right prospects!

What about you?  Is it time to re-evaluate your prospect list?  To identify your real opportunities in light of the current economic conditions and to realign your efforts to the highest likelihood of success?  How can making the time now ensure you have recession proofed your sales?

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Filed Under: Uncategorized
Tags: customer loyalty, maximize sales productivity, priorities, productivity, recession proof sales, Sales, sales success, Sales Tips

Ready for another tip on how to increase your sales in a tough economy?  Commit to excellence and focus on the power of one! 

The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to his or her commitment to excellence, regardless of his or her chosen field of endeavor.  Zig Ziglar’s quotation is important for all fields - but most specifically the field of sales!

Today’s economy has created a lot of easy excuses for the average performer to not take action.  Top performers continue to succeed in spite of the economy.  In our sales training courses, we see salespeople become a bit paralyzed as they look at ALL the activities they could be doing to make more sales.  Don’t let that ‘I’m overwhelmed’ feeling stop you.  Instead of thinking you need to do 20 things different today, start with just ONE MORE!

 Today, make the time for ONE more: 

1. Phone call.  Who do you want to connect with?  Take 5 minutes to prepare your objective, how you will engage them when they answer the phone, what you want to find out and the next step.  And then pick up the phone!  Be prepared to leave a great voicemail message if they don’t pick up.
2. Message.  What information can you send to someone as a follow-up?  Is there something you promised that you can get out today?  Send it by email or regular mail.
3. Note. Handwritten notes/cards are a powerful connection!   Select someone that you haven’t connected with in a while and send them a note.  Don’t make it about your company, product or service specifically.
4. Action item from your plan to achieve your goals.  You do have written goals don’t you?  Review them and find one action you can take today that will move you closer to achieving that goal. 
5. Question.  What information do you need from a client, prospect, or internal team member? Craft a good open-ended question and then ASK the question.  If you are in a meeting – with a client or internal team – ask one more question before ending the meeting.

For more ideas that you can do ONE more of – I have a free resource for you!  Timely Tips for Sales Managers is full of 52 tips to increase sales!  The free  tips can be downloaded for you to reference as you focus on achieving higher sales results.

Now that this post is written, I too will focus on the power of one and make one MORE phone call before lunch.

Are you committed to excellence?  If so, what ONE MORE action you will take today for a big pay off later?

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Filed Under: Uncategorized
Tags: consultative selling, focus, priorities, productivity, recession proof sales

This William Wordsworth quote sums up exactly why I love Thanksgiving.  Its a day to… 

  Rest and be thankful.

Pause and think of who you are thankful for.  Next what you are thankful for. Then give yourself permission to rest and recharge.

Blessings,

  Nancy Bleeke

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Tags: priorities

I grew up in a large family run by a hard working, strong-willed Italian mother. Lots of noise, lots of love and no tolerance for sitting around. No wonder the following Italian Proverb caught my attention! “Often he who does too much does too little.”

We were taught that keeping busy and working hard were what mattered. Now, I do attribute a lot of my good attributes to Mom, but the message on keeping busy wasn’t her most sound advice. I am always busy and doing a LOT. Years ago I named what I do as “flitting” – like a bee who is on the move and sipping nectar from one flower to another. What I realized is that while flitting does allow me to stay busy, it does not allow me to be as productive as possible.

What does work?

1. Making a list of priorities. The daily list is made once a day. The weekly list once a week. Items on the lists include To Do actions and other priorities to keep in focus.

2. Having boundaries. It is easy to get caught in the “got a minute?” trap. Think back, when someone asks if you have a minute, is it really a minute? It’s okay to ask if you can get back to them, or ask for a minute to wrap up your thought, email note, etc. so that you can then focus on the other person.

3. Setting goals. I don’t consider these the same as a list of priorities or actions. Goals are outcomes that you want to work toward in some future time period. The actions to reach the goals will end up on your priority and To Do lists.

4. Pausing. Pause and take a deep breath which will also allow you to glance at that priority list to see where time should be spent.

5. Slow down on the response time. Set emails to be received every 60 minutes. When working on the computer and the box pops up with a new email, my mind flits right over to see what it is. The discipline to let those go is easier when they aren’t loading every 3 minutes!

Focusing on what is important will allow you to be more productive and accomplish so much more. Busy-ness without a focus may keep us looking productive, but does not allow us to be efficient. Sorry Mom.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized
Tags: focus, priorities