Conrey is for Closers

Today will be the 11th Productivity Wednesday since I started this whole thing – so enough data to give some perspective on it. What have I learned?

• Some people still don’t get that I’m not just being productive on Wednesdays, just focusing on it.   Its like Mother’s Day – I love my mom every day, but I get to celebrate it once a year.
• Having one dedicated day that I know I can crank away on stuff and people are going to respect that I’m heads down more than usual is nice.
• Turning off tweetdeck every once in a while is a good thing.
• People are starting to join up – search #productivitywednesday on twitter and you’ll start to see about a dozen regulars posting with the hashtag (usually at the beginning of the day then not much until the evening).
• It isn’t easy to focus every wednesday on keeping it up – but not everything is easy every time you do it
• Having Hacknight at the end of Productivity Wednesday is a nice way to know that I’ll be able to let off some steam at the end of a hard day.
• I find other people helping to keep me motivated and on task to support my productivity – often in obscure ways like public humiliations and mockery – but it works.

This is not the end of Productivity Wednesday, but hopefully a way for more of you to jump on board and start to use it to be more productive in your own workspace.

In business of any sort – and especially sales- if you’re not learning, changing, and growing you’re dying. The market is changing, the clients want different things, your competition is doing more. The guys who are still trying to sell the same way they did last year are getting beaten by those with new skills. This doesn’t happen linearly, but exponentially.

When I had first started selling cars I thought I was pretty good. I had a few Salesman of the Month plaques on my wall, I was making good money, and had started to form a decent client base. I wasn’t the best guy at the dealership, but I worked harder than most everyone and hustled my way to the top. Then a better salesman than me told me I should be sure to go to the Grant Cardone training that was coming up – it would change my life. I was leery, it was a lot of money for a training thing, plus I’d be off the floor not selling for a whole day. I decided to give it a shot and see what happened. Nearly a thousand dollars in ticket and training materials later I walked out of the seminar with my mind blown.

In the coming months my sales numbers jumped well ahead of those that didn’t go, and I wasn’t working as many off shifts and extra hours. I earned back the money I spent on the seminar in less than a week. As much as I love what Grant Cardone does, this experience isn’t exclusive to him. I went to other training seminars that came to the area, usually on my own dime, and took the time and effort to make myself better. I actually used the CDs and training materials I bought. I read the books that I could find on the subject matter. I subscribed to blogs and email lists that had new information and sales tricks.

This holds true for any sort of salesperson, not just me. There is a wealth of available methods to get better. Books, seminars, blogs, email lists you name it.

What are you doing to make yourself better at what you do?
What are you using as an excuse not to?
What is it going to take to realize that you’re going backwards if you’re not moving forwards?

With the economy being in the toilet, everyone is looking for the cheapest deal.
Or are they?
Some people are looking for the cheapest deal. But most people are looking for the best value. If you chase after the cheapskates, you’ll make some deals, convert some leads to customers, and move some product. However someone will update their prices, and undercut you by a dollar and they’re gone. This is the “client vs customer” debate. You don’t want customers nearly as much as you want clients.

If you can chase the value buyers, show why your product is a better long term deal, that it is worth people to pay a little bit more – THEN back it up – you’ll keep them as a client forever. People will pay for perceived value – your job is to put that value on a pedestal and shine a light on it.