Conrey is for Closers

“Sorry guys, I hit every red light on the way here!”
“I spilled on myself on the way out the door and had to change, sorry I’m late”
“I’d have been on time if I hadn’t needed to stop and get gas”

Yeah, we’ve all used those when we were late for a meeting. Some of us even have way more creative ones that you are welcome to throw in the comments (I’ll update with the best ones).

Time management is one of those skills that is vital to a good Salesman. The practices reach deeper to other parts of your job as well:

Margin for Error:

• Time Management: If it takes you 10 minutes to drive somewhere, and you leave 10 minutes before you’re supposed to be there – YOU WILL BE LATE.  There are things you can’t control (red lights, little old ladies driving 10 mph under the limit, etc).  Leave earlier.  I aim for at least 10 minutes early for every meeting – more if I have farther to drive.
• Other Sales: If you have a quota, or a budget to hit and you only have enough sales to just cover it, YOU WILL MISS IT. There are things you can’t control (payment issues with your client, inventory issues, etc).  Aim to cover it by at least one deal so that you are only in trouble if you have two failures.

Overbooking:

• Time Management: You schedule meetings and calls back-to-back-to-back-to-back.  Guess what, one of those is going to run long.  Usually the one right before the most important one.  Give yourself some buffer when you are scheduling calls.  This gives you a chance to reset, get your brain ready for the next call, and get your real selling skills ready.
• Other Sales: You say you’re going to get a proposal out by a certain date and time when you’ve got a packed week. Guess what, you’re going to rush until the last minute to get it out.  Give yourself some buffer and schedule time to do this BEFORE the hour before its due.  This gives you time to spend the right amount of time on it and get it done right.

I can keep going here, but the moral of the story is that if you’re living with the mindset that one thing going wrong will throw everything out of whack, then you are in a firefighting mentality instead of a fire prevention one.  

Remember, only you can prevent forest sales fires.

I lost a deal the other day. Yeah I know, I was surprised too. It sucked, because I really thought I had made a good presentation, had hit their budget number fairly close, and had felt like I understood where I could solve their pain.

But somewhere I missed.

Now here’s the thing, if I was like most salespeople I’d have just said “Damnit!” and walked away from it never to think about that lost deal again. Hell, I was like me most of the time that’s what I would have done.

Instead I did something a little uncomfortable and I asked “What could I have done differently that may have earned your business?” Simple question, but that opens you up to a whole ton of possibilities. Asking a question like that
puts you in a position to hear some really day-crushing things. But its ok. You’ll learn something.

Ask this when you lose a deal. Be ready for an honest answer. Listen carefully to what they say you could have done better on and remember those things. Realize that no matter how awesome you think you are, it is really how awesome they think you are that matters.

Don’t ask this if you think you’re the best salesman in the world and that some clients you just are going to say no. Also if don’t ask this if you’re perfect. Otherwise, what do you have to lose?

Treat my first like my last, and my last like my first
And my thirst is the same as – when I came

Everyone remembers their first time. The first time you got a Yes, the smile, the nod. The excitement that welled up inside you as you thought to yourself “I did it! Its going to happen!”.

And then it became routine. You closed deals left and right. You took to working your “grind”. You started to get annoyed at incoming phone calls, tedious pitch meetings, new client intros that seemed to be progressively more and more useless.

What changed?

I’d be willing to bet that these meetings are no different than the first one. The calls no more annoying. The new clients no more tedious. But you’ve changed. You’re used to it now. Its your job now. You’ve got expectations.

Drop them. Go back to being new at this. Go back to the first time. Re-live that moment and treat each new client like your first – like you may never get to do it again – like you don’t know what that endorphin rush feels like.