Free Sales Tips: Don’t lose sight of this when selling.
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There were many times as an inexperienced salesperson that I got a little overwhelmed with the fast paced decisions that I needed to make in order to effectively manage my accounts. Should I call on customer A? Should I propose a certain product to customer B? Do I need to go to the home office and expedite an order?
I struggled with this until I received some stellar sales advice from Bob, who was the Vice President of Sales at the company I was working for at the time. He was very happy with my sales results but knew that I was struggling with how to prioritize my sales activities.
He told me, “Son, you’d make life a lot easier on yourself if you focused on the needs of the people that will make you the most money in the long run.”
What a great piece of advice that I use to this day. It’s great advice because in one sentence it hits all the important aspects of sales planning:
1. Focus on customers, not tasks.
2. Prioritize your activities according to the expected monetary return.
3. Take a long term view of things; don’t let short term crises get in the way of long term strategies.
4. Make sure you take care of those people that support you in the home office.
As sales professionals we are expected to simultaneously manage an account base, look for new opportunities and keep up with the administrative side of things. It can be overwhelming. When you need direction as to which way to turn, remember Bob’s words of wisdom. He was a smart guy.
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Tags: habits
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