– Theophrastus (372 BC – 287 BC)
Greek philosopher

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Sales math…

If you’re not earning the income you’d like to earn, ask yourself…

"Am I working like someone who makes $X thousand a year… someone who makes roughly $Y every money hour* of the day?"

Are you valuing your time at that level? If not, who will?

• $50,000 = $25 every money hour
• $75,000 = $37 every money hour
• $100,000 = $50 every money hour (almost $1 a minute)
• $120,000 = $60 every money hour ($1 a minute)
• $150,000 = $75 every money hour
• $200,000 = $100 every money hour
• $250,000 = $125 every money hour (more than $2 a minute)

Greater than $250,000 = You probably don’t need the reminder. ("Rich enough not to waste time.")

Forward this and help a friend see the light.

*money hours: hours during the salesday where you can talk with prospects and customers
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NO FLINTSTONING…

flintstoning (verb): 1. leaving the moment the whistle blows (or before) 2. mentally checking out early 3. sad 4. not SalesTough (what’s a flintstone?)
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1 way to be sure you get (and keep) the attention of your prospects and customers.

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–Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968)
American civil rights leader
Nobel Peace Prize winner

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Sales reminder…

Take action.

Make the call (contact).
Ask the (real) questions.
Seek out the objections (the truth).
Close.

Don’t waste a moment going through the motions. (no gomos)

You’re in sales. Everyone depends on you.
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Martin Luther King lived for just over 39 years.

He traveled over six million miles, spoke on over 2500 occasions, became an icon for civil rights, was the youngest Time magazine Man of the Year (35), and won the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize.

When you have some time (outside the money hours or on a well-earned break), enjoy his "I Have a Dream" speech, read his Nobel Prize acceptance, or listen to this quick audio clip (love this) from his Drum Major Instinct sermon for a little inspiration (full text of the speech).

(Sunday is the 48th anniversary of King’s delivery of "I Have a Dream" at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. The dedication of his memorial – between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials – is scheduled for the same day).
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If you’re a fan of King, I highly recommend his book "Strength to Love" – powerful and inspiring.

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–Voltaire (1694–1778)
French writer, essayist and philosopher

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Sales brilliance…

Are you sitting on brilliance (waiting for a better day, week, month, year, time to make the call)?

Be careful to invest your money hours wisely. Time is the only thing you can never get back.

Sure… There are lottery winners. But that’s not the way to bet.

Here’s 3 minutes with Malcolm Gladwell – author of "Outliers: The Story of Success" – talking about the work that goes into the "overnight success".

(If you’re not earning the income you’d like to earn, consider this thought on your money hours.)

Two sales days are 10% of your month.

To have only two slow days each month is equivalent to having more than one full month of slow days each year.

Sales point…

Every moment of every salesday matters. These are your money hours.* Hesitation for a better sales day of the week or a time when you’re feeling more up to the task will have a long-term effect on your ultimate sales results (and discipline).

It’s this serious. Every salesday is a salesday regardless of circumstances. Once gone, it’s gone forever.

Over the next few weeks, begin your quest for complete sales time discipline regardless of environment… regardless of circumstances. Put the “Do Not Disturb” button on your money hours and on your sales discipline.

Time management is simple. Do what it is you know must be done.

(SalesTough™ principle #1)

Now go sell something.~>

*money hours: the hours in a sales day where one can talk with prospects and/ or customers. The most valuable hours of the day.

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(click here for a printable sales reminder)

(click here for a printable sales reminder)

You’d likely…

• contribute more
• waste less time ramping back up
• serve customers better (internally and externally)
• find more customers
• come up with more ideas
• plan better
• be less frustrated and stressed
• help others focus more (by interrupting them less)
• make more money (for everyone… including you)

Nothing’s guaranteed, of course. But it’s a better bet. (And in the long run, you’ll enjoy more.)

If you like these ideas, you might also like the author’s message on commitment called Cross The Line. Use this link to watch the quick little video.
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4 ways to knock out the bulk of distractions

1. Establish focus hours with your team (or company-wide) – chunks of time each day where everyone will allow everyone else to focus (that includes you). No inter-office communications unless it truly can’t wait. At JustSell, ours are from 9 am – 11 am and 2 pm – 4 pm (4 total hours a day). You’ll make mistakes occasionally and break focus hours but with commitment and reinforcement, everyone will benefit. If you’re really SalesTough (see below if you don’t know what this is) in order to minimize outside distractions, let your family and friends know your focus hours (and turn off your cell).
2. Turn off email alerts and commit to checking it at the most minimal level you feel is possible for your particular sales world without having a negative impact on service. If you’re SalesTough, most of your inbound emails are probably important but still don’t need attention for at least an hour (if not longer). Be truthful with yourself and set your interval so everyone wins. If you can set only two or three specific times a day to respond to email, do it. (See below for what we learned by checking it only 3 times a day.) Consider having an auto-responder that let’s people know when you address your email (e.g., "Thanks for your note. I usually check my email three times daily (8:30 am, 11:30 am, 4:30 pm). If you need me immediately, please call my cell/ assistant/ office line.)."
3. Turn off instant messaging services unless your work absolutely requires it to get the job done. Having to phone someone or talk with them live (by visiting them) will make you more aware and respectful of someone else’s time (and yours).
4. Avoid the web during money hours unless you absolutely need it for your work. The distractions are endlessly wonderful for those who’d prefer to avoid making things happen (which of course, isn’t your goal). If you must open a browser during the money hours (or focus hours), make sure your home page is something that doesn’t have the potential to encourage you down destruction distraction road (e.g., news or email sites, personalized pages, etc.). Search and discover outside your money hours or at lunch.

1 more…

If you’re in an office setting that allows you to face away from distraction (the door or other people – not customers, of course), do it.

Managers: Depending on your team, some or all of these ideas might not go over well (we know firsthand). Involving people in a discussion, asking them for ideas on how to improve internal focus and minimize distractions, might be a good first step. Also, consistently helping people remember the purpose behind what it is you do for customers can help gain commitment to your reasons for focusing. If you’re looking for a way to encourage people to push it, take a look at 212.

Questions? Email Sam Parker.

Learn what being SalesTough is. (Why would you want to be anything else?)

See what we learned by checking email only 3 times daily.

More on this topic from others (great stuff)…

The Web Shatters Focus, Rewires Brains by Nicholas Carr (Wired Magazine) – This one inspired us to start migrating our links out of our posts, so you can focus.

Solitude and Leadership by William Deresiewicz (The American Scholar) – This one makes us want to be smarter people.

If you like these ideas, you might also like the author’s message on commitment called Cross The Line. Use this link to watch the quick little video.

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Copyright © 2010 by Give More Media Inc. This was written by Sam Parker. If you’d like to tell people about it somewhere (e.g., blog, newsletter, Facebook, social media), please reference Sam Parker of JustSell.com as the author and link directly to the article. Excerpts are great but please don’t publish the article in its entirety without advanced written permission (email Sam using the address at the bottom of this page).

“Am I working like someone who makes $X thousand a year… someone who makes roughly $Y every money hour* of the day?”

Are you valuing your time at that level?

(If not, who will?)

• $50,000   = $25 every money hour
• $75,000   = $37 every  money hour
• $100,000 = $50 every money hour (almost $1 a minute)
• $120,000 = $60 every money hour (a dollar a minute)
• $150,000 = $75 every money hour
• $200,000 = $100 every money hour
• $250,000 = $125 every money hour (more than $2 a minute)

 Greater than $250,000 = You probably don’t need the reminder. (“Rich enough not to waste time.”)

*money hours: hours during the sales day where you can talk with prospects and customers

Now go sell something.~>

Connect with Sam (guy behind this stuff)…

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“Hi, you’ve reached Benjamin Button. To leave a message immediately, please press the star button now. If you really love my the sound of my voice and have time and cell phone minutes to burn, please leave your message after the ridiculously long message that follows this message. And now, I’d like to read you a sales poem…”
 
We suggest using only the first two sentences. The keys are…

• Verizon: press the star button (*)
• Sprint & AT&T: press the number one (1)
• T-Mobile: press the pound button (#)

For you… If you know the carrier of the person you’re calling you can hit the appropriate key the moment their voice mail introduction begins and go straight to the tone.

It’s beautiful. Pure saleslove.

And we all have the same amount of it. Same days in a month, hours in a day, and minutes in an hour for everyone. It just seems to work better for some than others.

Below is your time management checklist for sales leaders. It’ll help you identify the important elements to consider when developing your personal time management system. Some aspects may apply to your sales environment, some may not – use what works for you and skip the rest.

Moving forward, be sure to evaluate your time management practices periodically and use this checklist as your guide.

It’s your sales time. Are you rich enough not to waste it?*

Be SalesTough.

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Organize your time

The money hours

• Organize your day around the money hours – the hours when you can and should be talking with prospects and customers
• Handle non-revenue generating activities before or after the money hours

Prospecting hours

• Dedicate a certain percentage of money hours to prospecting-only time
• To increase the probability of reaching prospects, vary the time of day you prospect
• Schedule it, do it, love it

Follow-up

• Queue up and standardize your frequently used follow-up emails and communications for easy production and distribution
• Document follow-up activity immediately – don’t set it aside

Professional development

• Schedule non-money hours for sales skill development or improving industry and/ or product knowledge

Understand the value of your time

Sales days

• Be aware of the sales days for each month and quarter
• Know where you are in the sales time line and plan accordingly
• Download and post a sales days calendar

Sales stats

• Understand and track your sales stats so you can plan effectively
  • dials to contacts
  • contacts to qualified leads
  • qualified leads to proposals
  • proposals to contracts
  • contracts to customers
  • dials per hour
  • follow-up calls per hour
  • follow-up attempts before disqualifying
  • determine the value of each sales hour given your earnings level/ target

Extra time

• Choose a reasonable amount of extra time to dedicate to each sales day (10 extra minutes each sales day adds one extra sales week to your year and potentially one extra week of income… if not more)

Productive down time

• Always have something to read always – always – for flight delays, waiting rooms, and lines
• Use drive time for sales development, practice (e.g., confident closing statements, objection handling, asking open-ended questions, etc.), and phone calls (get a headset if you can – no texting)

The extra call

• One extra call a day is more than 250 extra contacts in a year

Remember time management basics

Start early

• Not only for the day, but also for the week, month, and quarter
• Start early on projects and sales appointments

Plan ahead

• Look ahead to sales days around holidays, end-of-the-month and end-of-the-quarter and plan accordingly
• Be aware of the sales timeline (cycle) for your product, where you are in the month, and where you are with the prospect

Respect time

• Your time, your prospect’s time, your customer’s time
• Professionals don’t waste time and prospects and customers respect those who understand this – be punctual and be succinct

TIC TOC

“Life all comes down to a few moments. This is one of them.”

Bud Fox
Stock Broker
from the film, Wall Street (1987)

Now go sell something.~>

(The “Are you rich enough not to waste time?” question above was inspired by the film Wall Street – 1987. The antagonist, Gordon Gekko, while not a great role model, gave us some great lines. This one implies that wealthy people understand that time is very valuable. Full clip here (21 seconds).)