Industry Magazine Get JACK'D Magazine Winter 2019 | Page 5

We all begin each week with 168 hours; however, some are
getting much more out of their 168. Identify the High Payoff
Activities (HPAs) and book firm appointments for each.
Stay focused and watch greater success materialize.
1. HELP! Looking for anything to assist
me with better time management
as a salesperson. Okay, I want you to
think of a doctor and how they manage
their business, their day. Very often,
even with an appointment, we find
ourselves in the waiting room. While
this is frustrating, for the doctor, it’s
about maximizing their time and rev-
enue. Imagine having a day calendar
packed like that; no, don’t imagine it,
do it. What I’m getting at is instead of
the traditional “to-do” list where we
get some of the items done, try plan-
ning your day of things “to do” with a
daily calendar with set appointments
for each item to get done. We all be-
gin each week with 168 hours; howev-
er, some are getting much more out
of their 168. Identify the High Payoff
Activities (HPAs) and book firm ap-
pointments for each. Stay focused and
watch greater success materialize.
2. When is the right time for me to invest
in an assistant? Quick story: at 12 years
old, I took over a paper route with 32
customers. A year later it was 275, leav-
ing me no room to sell and doing a job
of delivery which I didn’t enjoy. I hired
five assistants (younger kids) to deliver
my papers, freeing me up for more sell-
ing time. Moral of the story: whenever
we can get “non-HPAs” off our plate at
a lesser price than what we can earn
by added focus on the HPAs, hire that
assistant!
3. I sell a product that’s generic and can
be termed a commodity. As such, I find
myself regularly dealing with price as
the hurdle. Thoughts? You bet! First
order of business is read Jaynie Smith’s
book Creating Competitive Advantage,
which has real examples of differenti-
ating what appears to be a commodity.
Price objections tend to come from ei-
ther a lack of trust or a lack of perceived
value. Build trust by caring more about
the pains and pleasures of your pros-
pect/customer. Tips on perceived val-
ue can be gleaned from the book Steve
Jobs by Walter Isaacson. That should do
it.
4. How much should the CEO be involved
in sales? First off, avoid the first of
the three sins of Sales Management
and don’t be both CEO and Sales
Manager because, by definition, you
have decided to grow your business
part time. Next, I don’t encourage my
CEOs to sell, but I do encourage them
to be out there in the field. Jim Koch
(Sam Adams beer) is known for his
two-days-a-week out with his sales
professionals. The ROI transcends
sales and can be beneficial through-
out the business.
5. I know your belief in a compensation
model of 100 percent commission for
salespeople. Our industry makes that
impossible. Have any thoughts? Sure
do. If you believe something can’t be
done, you will be right. If, on the other
hand, you said “We won’t do it any other
way,” then solutions will begin to sur-
face. Watch the movie 127 Hours, where
a hiker gets stuck between two boul-
ders and realizes his only shot at life is
to cut his own arm off. At first consid-
eration, it seems impossible. However,
if viewed as the only way, the solution
is doable. I’ve worked with many of my
CEO Coach clients in overcoming this
mind-set and challenge.
6. You talked about the “Swim Coach”
concept in the previous GET JACK’D
magazine. I’m still struggling; can you
help? Well, that was broad enough!
Assuming you’ve taken a legitimate
5
shot at what was suggested in the ar-
ticle from the previous magazine issue,
let’s try this. Reverse the concept and
try to identify where you might be a sol-
id “Swim Coach” for other folks. Begin to
explore such relationships and, once up
and running, go for the law of reciproc-
ity (if the person you “coached” cannot
directly help you, perhaps they can re-
fer others to you who can).
7. We are loving the concept (and now our
reality) of a Sales Playbook. Here’s the
question: How rigid should we be to
the scripts? I’m less about the rigidity
and more about the foundational an-
swers. Practicing the scripts with some
rigidity, however, will make us more
knowledgeable in the area and raise
our confidence to such a level of pro-
fessionalism that the words we string
together will come naturally.
8. How long do you believe it takes to
identify if a new sales hire is going to
“make it”? Most people will take issue
with my answer, but I believe we can
know in most cases within the first
week of employment. It’s about behav-
iors and attitudes more than technical
skills and knowledge. My experience
is that those attributes shine brightly
early.
9. What’s a manageable span of control
for a Sales Manager? While there are
many variables involved—such as type
of business, geographics, and methods
of accessing the desired markets—my
rule of thumb is 12–15 sales people per
Sales Manager. Refer to the book The
Sales Playbook for Hyper Sales Growth
(self-serving plug), where my coauthor
Dan Larson and I list the many tasks of a
typical, high-performing Sales Manager
and the time necessary to accomplish
those tasks.