Busy, Busy, Busy
The best account managers are busy. Average account managers are busy and below average account managers are busy. Everybody is busy, busy, busy.
If everybody is busy, why isn't everybody as productive as the best account managers? Unfortunately, it's obvious that the busy account managers who aren't productive are busy doing the wrong things. Since you don't want to be one of those people, let's review the right things to be busy doing:
1) The actions that get one closer to making a sale
2) The actions that ensure the success of a sale already made
Uh, that's pretty much it. Let's examine Category #1 in a little more detail.
The other day, an account manager pointed out to me that she had sent an e-mail to a client with an interesting article attached. The article was relevant to the customer's business and sending it was a good idea. Does her action fall into Category #1?
Her action should have fallen into Category #1 as she was trying to get closer to making a sale. But, based on the content of her e-mail, I can promise you that she didn't get closer to making a sale because she didn't ask the customer to take any action. Her e-mail said something like this:
"I saw this article and thought about you."
Coincidentally, another account manager also copied me on an e-mail that he sent to a customer with an article attached. His e-mail said something like this:
"Did you see this article (attached)? Let's get together and brainstorm ways to make this work for your business. We always come up with great ideas and I am sure that we can do it again!"
Two busy account managers. One productive account manager.
To give you some additional guidance about the difference between merely busy and productive let's expand Category #1:
1) The actions that get one closer to making a sale
a. Prospecting
i. Research to identify prospects
ii. Research to identify industry trends
iii. Contacting prospects with valid business reasons to convince them to spend time with you.
b. Qualifying
i. Determining if the prospect has enough money to purchase your products through research
ii. Determining if the prospect has enough money by meeting with them
c. Presenting
i. Sending presentations that ask for an investment
ii. Delivering presentations face-to-face that ask for an investment
While this list of ways to get closer to making a sale is incomplete, one should get a better idea about why the second account manager's activity was productive. He was contacting a prospect and providing a valid business reason to take a meeting to discuss the client's needs (a-iii).
Being busy is not the goal of any seller who counts on revenue production to earn commissions. Being productive is the goal.
Let's examine our behaviors and get a little more busy being productive.
If everybody is busy, why isn't everybody as productive as the best account managers? Unfortunately, it's obvious that the busy account managers who aren't productive are busy doing the wrong things. Since you don't want to be one of those people, let's review the right things to be busy doing:
1) The actions that get one closer to making a sale
2) The actions that ensure the success of a sale already made
Uh, that's pretty much it. Let's examine Category #1 in a little more detail.
The other day, an account manager pointed out to me that she had sent an e-mail to a client with an interesting article attached. The article was relevant to the customer's business and sending it was a good idea. Does her action fall into Category #1?
Her action should have fallen into Category #1 as she was trying to get closer to making a sale. But, based on the content of her e-mail, I can promise you that she didn't get closer to making a sale because she didn't ask the customer to take any action. Her e-mail said something like this:
"I saw this article and thought about you."
Coincidentally, another account manager also copied me on an e-mail that he sent to a customer with an article attached. His e-mail said something like this:
"Did you see this article (attached)? Let's get together and brainstorm ways to make this work for your business. We always come up with great ideas and I am sure that we can do it again!"
Two busy account managers. One productive account manager.
To give you some additional guidance about the difference between merely busy and productive let's expand Category #1:
1) The actions that get one closer to making a sale
a. Prospecting
i. Research to identify prospects
ii. Research to identify industry trends
iii. Contacting prospects with valid business reasons to convince them to spend time with you.
b. Qualifying
i. Determining if the prospect has enough money to purchase your products through research
ii. Determining if the prospect has enough money by meeting with them
c. Presenting
i. Sending presentations that ask for an investment
ii. Delivering presentations face-to-face that ask for an investment
While this list of ways to get closer to making a sale is incomplete, one should get a better idea about why the second account manager's activity was productive. He was contacting a prospect and providing a valid business reason to take a meeting to discuss the client's needs (a-iii).
Being busy is not the goal of any seller who counts on revenue production to earn commissions. Being productive is the goal.
Let's examine our behaviors and get a little more busy being productive.
Tim, I appreciate your mention of "actions that get one closer to a sale." Back when I was a sales manager, I would always ask my people, "what are you doing to move them closer?" I would often get things like, "I'm going to follow up this week" or "they're on my calendar to call today." A phone call MIGHT move a prospect closer to becoming a customer, but often, these phone calls are just hopeful attempts to get the prospect to say "I'll buy." I've seen a lot of salespeople be busy making phone calls, but not be productive at the same time.
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Some people are busy because they are purposely not productive. I remember working in a supermarket when I was at school and there was a very lazy colleague who always carried a plastic binder. He never worked, but when management were in the vicinity, he would hold up the binder and look quizically in deep ficiticious concentration. He rarely got caught.
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Nesh,
To take your comment one step further... I have seen sales people who will do ANYTHING to avoid making calls. organizing lists for hours, researching, writing letters, but no actual calling on clients. Again... they were always "busy". You could never catch them doing nothing or screwing around, but they were rarely moving people from lead to prospect to client.
Great post Tim!
-Brad
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To be fair to the 1st salesperson; she wasn't just doing nothing. She was potentially raising the prospect's perception of her helpfulness and how much she cared about him.
But I'm splitting hairs - you're right of course, the 2nd salesperson progressed the sale much further. It sounds like the salesperson knew the client pretty well and had already earned the right to ask for a meeting to discuss (it might have been a little pushy if they'd only just met!).
Ian
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Thanks for the comment, Ian. The first seller was busy doing what she was doing and an argument could be made that it had value. But, for me it isn't enough.
Imagine it was time to cut the grass. You get the mower out, change the oil and gas it up. Then you put it away. One could say that you didn't do nothing but the grass still isn't cut!
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What a fantastic and clear explanation as to what differs between busy good and busy bad. Tim you should write a book!
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Tim;
The one question I think needs to be addressed is the whether you want sales people to be efficient or effective?
Let me explain the difference...by using the analogy of two teams of road builders on opposite corners of a large piece of forest.
The goal is to be the first team to complete a road to the half-way point and there is a significant bonus for the first team that gets to the half-way point.
Team A - The efficient team, on the first day sends a man up the tallest tree and notes the direction to the half-way point. From that point on the team focuses on being efficient at building road and every day builds more road than the day before.
Team B - The effective team, which starts on the other corner of the forest, does the same thing and on the first day sends a man up the tallest tree and he to notes the direction to the half-way point. BUT every day before they start building road they send the same man back up the tallest tree they can find and he notes again the direction to the half-way point.
The question is which team gets the half-way point first?
The answer- Team B, the effective team. Team A was so busy focusing on being efficient at building more road each day that they forgot to notice that they started to get off course and missed the half-way point. Team B on the other hand never lost sight of the goal and stayed on course.
The moral of the story is not just about making the sale it’s about making the sales you want – The ones that will get you closer to your goal. In sales we need to stop focusing on taking sales and spend more time making the sales we want.
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