Activity Management
When I was new as a sales consultant, I was excited about my first day in which I would be using the phone to arrange appointments to sell our consulting services. I had made telephone sales calls in other sales organizations and always enjoyed the challenge. The goal that my sales coach and I had talked about was to make 100 dials in my first day of telephone prospecting.
So, I walked into my sales coach’s office and said, “OK, I’m ready to dial. Who do I call?” “No problem,” my sales coach said as he handed me a list of names and numbers of sales executives in our target market. I turned back to walk toward my phone and then I thought of another challenge: “What do I say when someone answers?” “No problem,” my sales coach said and this time he handed me a phone script that had worked for other salespeople in our organization. Again I turned around and headed toward my phone, then thought of another challenge: “But what do I say if they have questions for me that I can’t answer?” “Look Adam. You’re gonna make 100 dials today! I don’t care if you dial the phone 100 times and say ‘Hello this is Adam with Accelerate Performance—BOO!’ and hang up the phone. You’re gonna get to 100!”
And off I went. After demonstrating some call reluctance, I hunkered down and made my 100 dials, contacted 11 decision-makers and set 2 appointments. Most importantly on that day, I learned the value of high activity. The obvious value of high activity is that a salesperson gives himself more chances to succeed. The other important benefit of high activity is that one’s skills improve more quickly too. With more chances to practice that opening line, that voicemail message, etc. we get better!
Regardless of how transactional or consultative your sales process is; and regardless of whether you are more of a hunter (for new business) or farmer (expanding existing relationships)…the people who are more regularly in touch with more prospects and clients sell more. So what do top performers do to maintain high levels of activity?
- Keep score and do more. In every instance, people who keep score of the activity do more. Whether they use a tick sheet, an automated program, scoreboard or some other means, top performers keep track of their numbers and know them. It’s important to keep score of controllable behaviors (e.g. dials, # of times asked for referral, networking events attended, etc.) and results (e.g. sales, referrals received, etc.). If you execute enough of the desired behaviors, the desired results will come.
- Compete in a friendly way. Find another top performer and compete (e.g. whoever makes more calls by noon buys the other lunch). A successful salesperson in financial services started 8 years ago in a training class of 235 salespeople. He and another friend from the training class each recognized great potential in one another and they agreed to stay in touch and closely track one another’s performance to foster some healthy competition, even though one lived in Phoenix and the other in Kansas City. Today, they are two of the only three members of their training class of 235 still employed at the firm. It’s not a coincidence. Keeping score with peers is an extra motivator and drives success through extra activity and accountability.
- Learn your numbers and use them. Let’s use a simple example. Assume that on average, every time you make 50 phone calls, you set 3 appointments, which leads to 1 sale. Assume your average commission/sale is $5000. Don’t be as concerned about your sales and the $5000. Recognize that each time you dial the phone, you put $100 in your pocket ($5000 ÷ 50 calls). It’s no longer a phone, it’s a cash register, and each time you hit it, it’s $100 in your pocket!
Salespeople with higher activity sell more. Keep score, compete with a top performing peer, and use your numbers to stay motivated.