Back in the day when your fearless leader sold advertising for WHMP radio in Northampton, MA, I did something really dumb, and I knew it was dumb while I was doing it, but would never admit it to myself.
I’d have an appointment on one side of town in the morning, hop in my car and drive there. Then, I would get back in my car after meeting with the prospect, and most of these meetings were brief because I sucked at selling, and drive to the opposite side of town for another meeting.
By now it would be lunchtime, so I’d take a break for lunch, and then drive back to the same area I was in the morning. To make matters worse, I didn’t even turn my car into a “university on wheels” by listening to educational material.
Had I scheduled all of my morning appointments in the same area and all of my afternoon appointments in another area of town, I would have been more productive and been able to make more sales calls.
The underlying productivity hack is to chunk the same types of activities in time blocks. For example, I do the vast majority of my phone calls on Tuesdays. I crank out one call after another which allows me to get into a flow instead of doing a phone call, switching off to writing an email, doing a phone call, shooting a video, etc. Even if I do not have a full day of calls, still block off a chunk of time on my calendar, so I’m doing them back to back without distraction.
But there is a deeper issue to unpack which goes beyond time management, and that is the question of why I drove back and forth across town to make sales calls when I knew it wasn’t the most productive thing to do.
The answer is I was avoiding doing what I feared – meeting with a prospect and trying to sell them. This fear was born out of a lack of confidence in myself and in the product I was selling.
I had no confidence in myself because I had no sales training. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. No amount of positive thinking or fake pump-up affirmations would change the fact that I had not mastered the art and science of persuasion. I believed I didn’t like sales because I was never taught what selling is or how to do it professionally.
I didn’t have confidence that if a prospect bought radio advertising from me, they would get results. The sales manager should have brainwashed me into believing that advertising on WHMP was the best thing a business owner could do. He should have shown me case studies and results other advertisers had gotten. If you don’t have an unshakeable belief in what you’re selling, your sales will suffer no matter how “skilled” you are at persuasion and influence.
So, let me ask you, what are you avoiding doing in your business that you know you should be doing? Once you’ve identified that, ask yourself what is causing this avoidance. And then get to work fixing it this week.
By the way, if you’re not a spectacular closer, and maybe even don’t like selling, there is a quick and inexpensive fix. Upgrade and become a Dave Dee Inner Sanctum VIP. Just the $297 new member bonus gift you get immediate access to will put you on the right path. Check it out here:
Kick butt, make mucho DEEnero!
Dave “Face Your Fears” Dee