What a great article! 44% of businesses surveyed said they prospected less than half a day per month! That is 12 hours per quarter - Shocking! Check out http://www.eyesonsales.com/ - fab site for sales tips!
By Colleen Francis of Engage
A recent poll of Engage customers revealed a shocking habit. When asked, “How much time per day do you spend prospecting” 29% responded less than 1 hour a month prospecting for new business, 44% less than half a day, and only 17% at least one full day per month. Pathetic!! Considering that prospecting is the number one secret to sales success there must be a number of struggling sales professional out there. I can't say this often or emphatically enough, “There is no sales problem that good prospecting skills can’t solve.”
I know that you are getting tired of me spouting off about this, it’s just that 80% of sales people still don’t get it.
I frequently coach sales reps who know exactly what to say, when to say it, and have terrific, well-priced products. But they still can’t sell. Why? Because they have no prospects waiting in their sales funnel to qualify and close. And if you don’t have any prospects, you can’t make any sales. Period. To ensure you have a steady stream of new business opportunities, the following is a quick two-step process that I use in many of my coaching sessions, which can help you be more proactive with your prospecting each and every week:
Step 1: Evaluate. First, how many prospects do you really need? In most industries, you can use the average metric of about 25 "suspects" - or 3 qualified prospects - for every sale. A suspect is a cold prospect. You have an inkling that they should be interested in your product, but you haven't talked to them yet, and they haven't contacted or been referred to you.
A qualified prospect is someone who you know has a need for your product, and a desire to buy it from someone. They also have the money to spend, and the power to make the transaction happen. To find out how many prospects you should have in your sales funnel, just multiply the number of new customers you need each year, by the number of suspects or qualified prospects it will probably take to get them.
Step 2: Execute. Once your target is set, you can start to work towards achieving it through the following four key prospecting techniques:
1) Get referrals. Referred leads are a profitable way to grow your business, as well as a good benchmark for how well you're building your business relationships. The “holy grail” in lead generation is to receive leads from your customers without asking for them. These unsolicited referrals are proof that you've earned so much trust and loyalty that your existing customers have become your sales reps! The more leads you get, the more satisfied your existing customers likely are, and the better the job you're doing.
2) Network. In any career, success or failure is a direct result of our networks, and the people we know. As the old saying goes, "take care of your people (or, in this case, your network), and your business will take care of itself.” For all their differences in approach, style and technique, the top 10% of sales people all have one thing in common: they are all more likely to employ a broad network of friends, family, acquaintances and connections to help them seize opportunities, and respond to challenges.
3) Be a Life Giver. Life Givers know that what goes around, comes around. They understand the power of reciprocity, and use it to their advantage. So don't hoard your contacts. Open your proverbial Rolodex, and start making introductions. Be the first at an event or party to provide a contact to someone you've just met, rather than waiting for them to give you something first. Once you start sharing your contacts and making connections with and for others, it won't be long before your clients and contacts start returning the favor in spades.
4) Make the calls. Last but not least, those sales reps who are at the top of their profession almost always have a short, precise "To Do" list, which relates directly to achieving their goals for the year. Right at the top of your list should be the number of prospecting calls you're going to make every day. And to make sure it gets done, keep your list short - probably no more than 4 to 5 items a day - and make sure it gets done first thing in the morning, before all those other inevitable little "fires" can create excuses for getting to work. By carrying out your To Do list each day without fail, you'll find your number of prospects will grow - and your business soar - faster than you ever thought possible.
Showing posts with label Goal Setting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Goal Setting. Show all posts
Friday, February 4, 2011
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Personal Business Planning: Planning & Goal Setting Ideas
2011: another 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, 8,760 hours, 52,600 minutes 3,153,600 seconds of opportunity, experience, growth and possibilities.
What makes this the most wonderful time of the year is blue sky thinking and planning for the year ahead. Planning starts with setting goals.
Setting goals affects outcomes in four ways:
1. Choice: goals narrow attention and direct efforts to goal-relevant activities, and away from perceived undesirable and goal-irrelevant actions.
2. Effort: goals can lead to more effort; for example, if one closes 4 deals per month, and has the goal of closing 6, one may work more intensely than one would otherwise in order to reach the goal.
3. Persistence: An individual becomes more prone to work through setbacks if pursuing a goal.
4. Cognition: goals can lead an individual to develop cognitive strategies to change their behavior.
Locke et al. (1981) examined the behavioral effects of goal-setting, concluding that 90% of laboratory and field studies involving specific and challenging goals led to higher performance than did easy or no goals.
All the more reason to set goals! Goals need a plan...a map of sorts of how you get from an idea to action.
Here are some general topics to include in your personal business plan. These topics will vary depending on your livelihood, industry and your imagination. If you use these as a starting point, you should be able to build a frame work for goals and a plan to achieve those goals. Things to think about:
"Whatever the mind can conceive it can achieve" W. Clement Stone
This included a list of what you want and you can add pictures to help cement your vision. It also included a list of what you have to be thankful for. Of the 14 items on my list of what I wanted from 2007, I have had 7 of them come to fruition. It's good to be able to know what you set out to do and that you can do it. Quite frankly, some of the things I achieved I did not believe were possible. But ideas keep you focused and with focus you can create action.
Once you have ideas or goals, the next step is about creating an executable plan which is a commitment to yourself. Like all commitments, they have better days than others but in the end, you still have to stay on the path. I prefer weekly plans rolled up into monthly objectives. For example, if there are 16 awake hours in a day, rough out what hours are spoken for and how much time you have for achieving your goals. In the end, something has to give so it is important to prioritize.
Weekly time blocks may include:
Work/Job: 5 days a week X 8 hours a day
Commuting: 5 days a week X 1 hour a day
Gym: 3 days a week X 1.5 hours (includes work out, clean up and commuting)
Dinner: 7 days a week X 1 hour includes Food Prep, cooking, eating & clean up
So far we are at 56.5 hours out of a possible 112 hours. This leaves approximately 50% of your awake hours for so much more!
The trick is to watch for leakage. What steals your time? Goals will keep you on course. That and time blocking but that is another discussion.
The next step is to outline your year long goals or commitments: Spending more time with family, commitments to physical and mental health, doing something that makes you happy. This must be specific. Don't leave it loose or open to interpretation. For example, 50% of what I eat in a day will be vegetables. Spend one hour a week playing a game with my kids. I will arrange a date night with my significant other once a month whether it's convenient or not. I will pack my lunch once a week and save my money for something important to me.
One you have decided how much time a week you are going to dedicate to achieving your goals, the next step is rolling that up into a monthly plan. For example, I am going to spend 4 hours a month learning a new skill. I am going to save $X amount of money this month toward a goal. Open a savings account. The monthly frame gives you a chance to catch up on something you may have missed during your weekly commitments. I keep monthly goals as a note in my blackberry so I can look at them often.
You can layer in quarterly objectives or milestones to keep you on track. There is no fear of failure. If you miss the mark, you need to keep it in your line of site to achieve for the next month. Persistence to your commitment.
So now you know what you want, you may have some ideas on how to get you where you want to go, now it's time to enlist the advice of others who can give you tips and short cuts. No reason to learn it all the hard way!
As you have a chance to catch your breath and look around over the next few days, start; Start putting down ideas, start thinking about what you want. Then expand on those ideas and make a plan. Could be Power Point. Could be a cocktail napkin. Could be a vision board. Embrace it and have some fun with it!
Happy New Year!
Susan
What makes this the most wonderful time of the year is blue sky thinking and planning for the year ahead. Planning starts with setting goals.
Setting goals affects outcomes in four ways:
1. Choice: goals narrow attention and direct efforts to goal-relevant activities, and away from perceived undesirable and goal-irrelevant actions.
2. Effort: goals can lead to more effort; for example, if one closes 4 deals per month, and has the goal of closing 6, one may work more intensely than one would otherwise in order to reach the goal.
3. Persistence: An individual becomes more prone to work through setbacks if pursuing a goal.
4. Cognition: goals can lead an individual to develop cognitive strategies to change their behavior.
Locke et al. (1981) examined the behavioral effects of goal-setting, concluding that 90% of laboratory and field studies involving specific and challenging goals led to higher performance than did easy or no goals.
All the more reason to set goals! Goals need a plan...a map of sorts of how you get from an idea to action.
Here are some general topics to include in your personal business plan. These topics will vary depending on your livelihood, industry and your imagination. If you use these as a starting point, you should be able to build a frame work for goals and a plan to achieve those goals. Things to think about:
- What is your dream job?
- What motivates you? Money? Recognition? Goals? Stuff? Looking good in the eyes of others? Avoiding looking bad in the eyes of others? Competition? A long term vision?
- How much money do you want to make?
- Personal Development - learning a new skill, running a marathon, better health, volunteering etc
- What are you good at? How would people describe you at home or at work. What could use improvement on?
- Who do you see yourself being?
- If money was no object, what would you do with your life?
"Whatever the mind can conceive it can achieve" W. Clement Stone
This included a list of what you want and you can add pictures to help cement your vision. It also included a list of what you have to be thankful for. Of the 14 items on my list of what I wanted from 2007, I have had 7 of them come to fruition. It's good to be able to know what you set out to do and that you can do it. Quite frankly, some of the things I achieved I did not believe were possible. But ideas keep you focused and with focus you can create action.
Once you have ideas or goals, the next step is about creating an executable plan which is a commitment to yourself. Like all commitments, they have better days than others but in the end, you still have to stay on the path. I prefer weekly plans rolled up into monthly objectives. For example, if there are 16 awake hours in a day, rough out what hours are spoken for and how much time you have for achieving your goals. In the end, something has to give so it is important to prioritize.
Weekly time blocks may include:
Work/Job: 5 days a week X 8 hours a day
Commuting: 5 days a week X 1 hour a day
Gym: 3 days a week X 1.5 hours (includes work out, clean up and commuting)
Dinner: 7 days a week X 1 hour includes Food Prep, cooking, eating & clean up
So far we are at 56.5 hours out of a possible 112 hours. This leaves approximately 50% of your awake hours for so much more!
The trick is to watch for leakage. What steals your time? Goals will keep you on course. That and time blocking but that is another discussion.
The next step is to outline your year long goals or commitments: Spending more time with family, commitments to physical and mental health, doing something that makes you happy. This must be specific. Don't leave it loose or open to interpretation. For example, 50% of what I eat in a day will be vegetables. Spend one hour a week playing a game with my kids. I will arrange a date night with my significant other once a month whether it's convenient or not. I will pack my lunch once a week and save my money for something important to me.
One you have decided how much time a week you are going to dedicate to achieving your goals, the next step is rolling that up into a monthly plan. For example, I am going to spend 4 hours a month learning a new skill. I am going to save $X amount of money this month toward a goal. Open a savings account. The monthly frame gives you a chance to catch up on something you may have missed during your weekly commitments. I keep monthly goals as a note in my blackberry so I can look at them often.
You can layer in quarterly objectives or milestones to keep you on track. There is no fear of failure. If you miss the mark, you need to keep it in your line of site to achieve for the next month. Persistence to your commitment.
So now you know what you want, you may have some ideas on how to get you where you want to go, now it's time to enlist the advice of others who can give you tips and short cuts. No reason to learn it all the hard way!
As you have a chance to catch your breath and look around over the next few days, start; Start putting down ideas, start thinking about what you want. Then expand on those ideas and make a plan. Could be Power Point. Could be a cocktail napkin. Could be a vision board. Embrace it and have some fun with it!
Happy New Year!
Susan
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Goal Setting really does work!
ACHIEVING YOUR GOALS ISN'T SOMETHING THAT JUST HAPPENS
In a study done at Harvard University more than 40 years ago, researchers polled the graduating class of 1953 to find out how many students actually had clearly written specific goals and a plan for achieving them. This being a class of highly intelligent people at one of the world's most renowned universities, you'd expect the answer to be most of them, right?
Not even close. In fact, only 3 percent of the class had taken the time to write down their goals. Now here comes the really interesting part. Some 20 years later, researchers polled this same group of graduates to see how they had fared in life. It turned out that the 3 percent who had written down their goals had accumulated more wealth than the other 97 percent of their class combined! Researchers reported that these people also seemed healthier and happier than their classmates
Set Goals and stay focused!
Good Luck out there!
In a study done at Harvard University more than 40 years ago, researchers polled the graduating class of 1953 to find out how many students actually had clearly written specific goals and a plan for achieving them. This being a class of highly intelligent people at one of the world's most renowned universities, you'd expect the answer to be most of them, right?
Not even close. In fact, only 3 percent of the class had taken the time to write down their goals. Now here comes the really interesting part. Some 20 years later, researchers polled this same group of graduates to see how they had fared in life. It turned out that the 3 percent who had written down their goals had accumulated more wealth than the other 97 percent of their class combined! Researchers reported that these people also seemed healthier and happier than their classmates
Set Goals and stay focused!
Good Luck out there!
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