While at a conference a couple of years ago, I heard of a study which was carried out on sales professionals in a corporation in the US. What it looked at was how long each day the sales people in the study actually spent doing the three things which get sales results – that is to say prospecting their target market , having face to face meetings with prospects and following up on prospect proposals.
And what they found was remarkable. In a standard 7.5 hour day, the average sales person was investing a staggering 90 minutes in doing the core things that get them results. That is to say that 6 hours of each day was spend doing things which didn’t get them the sales results they need for their business and for their income.
So you have to ask the question .. if they are achieving their current results with just 90 minutes of that core activity per day, what could they achieve with 3 hours invested in doing the right things ? Is it fanciful to suggest that they might increase, even double their sales ?
Of course, more activity, when properly focused and consistently delivered, will bring more success. If in an average week, I meet 5 businesses in my target market and convert 2 of them to clients, then what would be the result of meeting 10 ? Hmmm, double the sales !
So perhaps the time is right for you to have a long, hard look at the sales activity in your business. And then look at what you choose to achieve by way of results this year. Can you see the opportunity ? What needs to change within your business to allow more time to be invested in the sales effort ?
And once you’ve worked that out ? Just do it, of course !