I have actually witnessed salespeople hiding out in their offices, pretending to be busy, so they wouldn’t have to go out into the cruel world to find and book new sales. Some of these salespeople work harder at avoiding sales activities than they would have worked at selling.
It seems odd, but it is true. For these people, absolutely any excuse is a good enough reason not to sell. The irony is that some of these salespeople are paid a commission, so you would think there would be motive enough to sell. They have deliberately diminished their lifestyle to accommodate a reduced level of income. It doesn’t make sense that someone would work harder to bring home less, but it’s true.
Salespeople should have just one focus – book more sales. There is nothing more important than that singular mission. Every employee in the company depends on profitable sales to pay their wages. If salespeople don’t sell, the company will fail and every employee will be seeking new employment. I’ve often imagined the spouse of an employee phoning a salesperson, inquiring about the state of sales for the company to pacify their fears of missing payroll. Bottom line, even the owner is dependent upon salespeople for a paycheck. It almost seems unjust to put that much pressure on salespeople, but that’s the reality of the situation. There is no excuse for not booking more sales.
Don’t make selling so difficult on yourself. Identify your sales process (those activities, when executed properly and consistently, generate sales) and then follow it. Any activity is much easier when you break it down into specific steps performed accurately and predictably. Don’t bog yourself down doing unnecessary activities, meaning either things that shouldn’t be done at all, or those activities that should be performed by others on your sales team. Salespeople should sell and support people should support by doing everything else. Work at spending every available minute doing what you do best, booking new or additional sales. Stay focused on your sales activities and let your support team do the rest. Prospecting, presenting, romancing and closing are what salespeople do to make the “big bucks”.
Don’t hide yourself from selling, embrace the title, perform the activities and take home the reward. Plan every day to include all the steps of your sales process. Challenge yourself to achieve your activity goals and sales goals. Fill your day with sales activities and you won’t have time to do anything else. It is doing the “anything else” that really cuts into your paycheck and puts the income of every other employee at risk. The reality of facing your sales fears and procrastination is never as frightening as you might imagine. The famous slogan of the Nike Corporation tells us to “Just Do It”. Be mindful of those words the next time you find yourself losing focus by working harder at avoiding sales activities rather than just doing it.
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