Conquering the Biggest Enemy of the Salesperson
John Chapin
A salesperson’ s most important activity is talking to qualified prospects. The biggest enemy of the salesperson is anything that distracts him or her from working on that most important activity. Distractions come in many forms, some obvious and some not so obvious. Here are those distractions along with their solutions.
Seven Distractions that Keep You from Your Most Important Activity
Distraction # 1: Cell phone, e-mail, text messages, false emergencies, and other similar items Recently I was helping a call center increase their number of calls. The first thing I did was observe everyone to see how they typically make calls. I watched one individual pick up the phone, start to dial, and then stop because he got a text message. He read it, responded, and then went back the phone, hung it up, and started to redial. Just then an e-mail chime sounded and he looked to see who it was from. Once again, he hung up, then redialed. He got voicemail, left a message, then brought up his CRM to enter the information for that call. For the next half hour I watched as callers got distracted by everything from the above items, to trips to the bathroom and to fill up water bottles and cups of coffee. As a group, they averaged 2 ½ calls in the 30 minute period. Yes, one call every 12 minutes.
The key here is single-minded focus. Ideally you are time-blocking as many items as possible, but especially your most important: prospecting calls. If you’ re in the office, put together a prospect list and then remove all distractions. Shut off your cell phone and e-mail, clear all paperwork and other items off your desk, and focus. Make notes right on the list and enter notes into the CRM later. You may even put up a sign up saying you cannot be interrupted. In any case, you have one focus for at least the next hour: make as many calls as possible. If you’ re on
12 KANSAS INSURANCE AGENT & BROKER | January- February 2017 |