Sales Success Is Strongly Influenced By Habits

You have probably all heard the definition of insanity, “doing the same thing over and over again hoping for a different result. Habit is the reason you keep doing the same thing over and over again. Your actions are governed by your own unique set of habits. These patterns of behavior, both good and bad, are interrupted only with difficulty, due to the habitual nature of human beings. As people are presented with new ideas and techniques they are often frustrated by the difficulty associated with changing their long established habits.

I have assessed the sales habits and patterns of behavior of thousands of sales people in the past several years. Very few were successful in changing their behavior until they first made a mental commitment to change. When change becomes difficult sales people revert back to their old patterns of behavior unless they have mentally committed to the change. The mental commitment will keep them on task when the physical reality of change promotes reverting back to the old habit.

Replacing old bad habits with good new ones in difficult, but it is not impossible. The key to changing behavior is understanding and then applying the correct techniques. There are two main reasons people don’t change their behavior. First, the motivation to change is not compelling enough to endure the difficulty. Second, a mental commitment to change has not been made which commitment gives strength to stay the course during the difficult transition from one behavior to the next.

The cliché, “practice makes perfect,” applies to changing your long established ways of doing things. However, we need to better understand “practice”. Perfect practice makes perfect and the only place you can practice perfectly is in your mind. You need to see yourself using the new techniques or behavior mentally before you will ever commit to applying the behavior physically. If you can’t see yourself doing it, you will never stay with it long enough to change your behavior. The following story illustrates the perplexity associated with changing habits.

The renowned French Naturalist Jean-Henri Fabre, in an experiment with a group of processionary caterpillars was able to entice the group on to the rim of a very large flower pot. Processionary caterpillars move through pine trees in a long procession feeding on the needles. They derive their name from their habit of following a lead caterpillar, each with its eyes half closed and its head fitted snugly against the rear end of the preceding caterpillar.

In his experiment, Fabre succeeded in getting the lead caterpillar to connect up with the last one, creating a complete circle that moved around the pot in a never-ending procession. He thought that after a few circles of the pot, the caterpillars would discover their predicament or tire of their endless progression and move off in another direction. But they never varied their movements.

Through sheer force of habit, the caterpillars kept moving relentlessly around the pot at about the same pace for a period of seven days. They would have continued even longer if they had not stopped from sheer exhaustion and hunger. As part of the experiment, food had been placed close by in sight of the group, but because it was out of the path of the circle, they continued in their procession to what could have been their ultimate destruction.

In their procession around the pot, they were blindly following their instincts, habits, past experience, tradition, custom, precedent - the way they had always had done things. In reality, they got nowhere.

If sales people will embrace change and mentally commit to doing those activities that have been proven successful by thousands of top performers, they will find the success they are looking for. Habits are your constant companion. They can lead you to success or failure in your sales activities. Habits are completely at your command and will automatically perform most of your tasks. When your activities are governed by correct habits, tasks are completed quickly and correctly. Once you embrace a habit it will work for you automatically doing what you want done. Your positive habits are your greatest servant, while your negative behaviors will become your greatest obstacles. When you ultimately become the master of your positive behaviors you will find sales success beyond your wildest expectations. If you let your negative habits rule your actions, sales success will elude you forever.

Plan And Schedule Your Time To Achieve Sales Success

What I’m going to show you about time management is so bold, so revolutionary and absolutely mind boggling, that you’ll find it difficult to believe. Time is the most valuable commodity in the universe, and with this knowledge you will have more time to do those things you value most. This knowledge, when applied consistently, will put the world at your feet.

Time is a continuum, a constantly moving series of events, one right after the other. Time must be captured as it moves along this continuum for it cannot be slowed, stopped or saved. A moment of time not captured in the moment, is a moment lost forever. You can elect to use your time for anything you choose, time doesn’t care. You can use your time to create wealth, health, intellect, relationships, pleasure or nothing at all. The choice is yours; no one else really cares.

Here is the formula, the secret of time followed by all successful people. Having learned the secret, the choice is yours. Apply it to achieve your wildest dreams and ambitions, or just know about it and waste the opportunities of a lifetime. Isn’t it interesting that life is referred to as time! The formula is outlined in the following five (5) steps:

Step 1: Set aside a time and place each day to plan and schedule what you will accomplish that day. The best time and place to plan and schedule your day is a time and place that will not be interrupted by other activities, a time that can be utilized for planning on a consistent basis and a place that is free from distractions. As an example, before you leave the office (regardless of what time that might be each day), when you get up in the morning or before you leave the house, etc. The number one reason people don’t plan is that they don’t have time. If you don’t have time, you can always find it in your alarm clock.

Step 2: Having set aside the time to plan, ponder and list all the activities that need and should be done today. Open your mind and list all that you can imagine. Think of your daily routines, projects, clients, activities, demands, etc. Refer to the prior day and add to the list those activities not previously completed. Consider those things you want to do, those things that must be done, and include those tasks and activities that are part of your long term personal and business goals. Don’t forget to include those things that mean the most to you. If you get trapped into only considering the urgent activities you will never plan those activities necessary to achieve your personal dreams and goals.

Step 3: Once you have made your list for the day, prioritize the list to ensure that the most important activities are accomplished. “Chunk” your activities into groups by assigning them an A, B, C, or D ranking. Then prioritize all of you’re A’s by giving them a numeric ranking 1,2,3,etc. Make your numeric rankings consecutive through the A’s, B’s, C’s, etc. When you are done, you can simply follow the numbers beginning with number 1 through the end of your list and you will have a numeric ranking of importance.

Step 4: Determining what to do and having assigned a priority, the next step is to pre-determine how much time to spend completing each activity. A major cause of wasted time is spending more time on any single activity than is necessary. Completing a task is only half the effort. The other half of the effort is found in completing the task in the minimum amount of time required. If you don’t predetermine how much time an activity will take, it will easily take all the time there is. Go down your list and assign a reasonable amount of time to complete each task. If you don’t know how much time the task will take, guess.

Step 5: The next step is to move each activity into a time slot. The most important task does not need to be completed first, it just needs to be completed. The correct time slot to schedule any task is whatever you believe to be the right time. Once each task has been assigned a time slot, just follow the time and you will be doing what needs to be done. For some people it is easier to create blocks of time. For instance, eight o’clock till ten o’clock is a two-hour block of time. Within that block of time you can schedule several different activities. It may not matter what order they are completed so long as they are finished within the block of time. Firm appointments are always schedule at the agreed upon time. When assigning activities to a block of time, add a little extra time for interruptions and emergencies. As the day progresses you can gain a very clear picture of your accomplishments. There are eighteen thirty-minute time frames between eight o’clock and five o’clock. Your objective should be to fill each thirty-minute block of time with meaningful activities from your list. It isn’t enough to know how you spend your time, but, rather to pro-actively plan and schedule your time to achieve what you want. If you don’t control your time it will control you and time doesn’t care what it does.

When you follow this formula precisely and consistently you will have all the time necessary to achieve all that you desire. The choice is yours and by virtue of your choice you will determine your own success. There are only twenty-four hours in a day and nothing that you or I can do will ever change that. We have, however, an even greater power and that is the power to plan and schedule every minute of every day. Without exception, those sales people who achieve the greatest success in life have discovered, learned, and applied this formula.

There Is Great Value In Time Management

There is a saying that we have all heard, “If you want to get something done, ask a busy person to do it.” It also seems that those who produce the least amount of work are usually the ones who haven’t any time.

Research conducted by behavioral scientists regarding the success patterns of top sales people show that they are constantly on the go. Those people producing the most sales in every field of endeavor are the ones who have interwoven throughout all their sales activities, the driving theme to “work smarter not harder.”

One of the cardinal principles of successful sales people is to work according to a plan and to set priorities. The assessment of daily priorities is usually the first order of business each day—or the last order of business before they go home at night. Most also review their long-term priorities at least monthly. There is a constant need for top producers to screen out the unimportant or unproductive activities. Excellent sales people and savvy business professionals know what must be accomplished and binding personal commitments to achieve their goals, then they plan their time accordingly.

Profiles In Courage, a book written by John F. Kennedy, quotes young John Quincy Adams in a letter to his father. This letter illustrates his grasp of the important principle of planning and shows strength of character and wisdom far beyond his nine years of age. He writes:

“Mamma has a troublesome task to keep me studying. I owe I am ashamed of myself. I had but just entered the third volume of Rollin’s history but designed to have got half through it by this time. I am determined this week to be more diligent. I have set myself a stint to read the third volume half out...”

“I wish sir, you would give me in writing some instructions with regard to the use of my time, and advise me how to proportion my studies and play, and I will keep them by me and endeavor to follow them.”

What John Adams knew at an early age and what some adults never seem to learn, is that to really succeed in achieving important goals in life, you must carefully plan your activities and the time you allocate to them. Top sales people recognize that the “art of getting things done” is as important to their sales success as any other basic sales principle. Successful sales people have mastered this skill. Not being able to recognize the need for daily planning or not admitting you need improvement may be your biggest stumbling block to sales success.

E. T. Klassen, a former president of American Can Company, said that planning and the planning process is of itself a “driving force” to success. It forces you to determine where you are going and to explore all the alternative strategies in getting there. Planning forces you to evaluate and then choose the basic strategies you’ll use to attain your goals. It forces you to balance your resources against the opportunities you encounter along the way. Most importantly, it forces you to choose a system by which to judge your performance. Klassen has written:

“Few of us like to accept discipline. None of us like to feel hemmed in. But we must concede that the requirements of planning are the very same requirements that determine our success of failure in today’s business world. Guessing is out. Planning is in.”

A great American salesman, Michael Gore said the following concerning time:

“You won’t find it in your wallet, or your bank account. You can’t borrow it, you can’t work hard and earn more of it. And certainly, you can’t hoard it. In fact, all you can do with it is spend it.”

Time is a universal medium of exchange for success, available to all who would spend it wisely. Your sales success will be in part a direct result of how you manage this valuable, diminishing resource.

Top sales people like Gore are increasingly sensitive to their use of time. They know that through planning they can find at least one additional productive hour each working day. Through effective planning and improving your ability to concentrate on the important tasks at hand, you too can improve your sales success.

Managing Your Time Will Increase Your Sales

If you are to succeed in sales it is imperative that you do the important things first.
The oft-told story of efficiency expert Ivy Lee’s meeting with Charles Schwab, then President of Bethlehem Steel illustrates the importance of this principle.

In explaining his services, Lee told Schwab that with his program “you’ll know how to manage better.” Schwab’s quick retort was, “Good heavens, I’m not managing as well now as I know how to. We don’t need more knowing, but more doing. If you can give us something to pep us up to do the right things we already know that we should do, I will gladly listen to you and pay you anything in reason you ask.”

With that, Lee was told that Schwab had twenty minutes before he had to catch a train. Lee asked Schwab to take out a blank sheet of notepaper and in the next twenty minutes he would show Schwab how he could “step up his doing by at least fifty percent.” Basically, he told Schwab that he should write down the six most important tasks that he had to perform the next day and then number them in order of importance. Lee told him to “put this paper in your pocket, and first thing tomorrow morning look at item one and start working on it until it was finished. Then, tackle item two in the same way; then item three, and so on. Do this until quitting time. Don’t be concerned if you only finish one or two. You will be working on the most important ones. The others can wait. If you can’t finish them all by this method, you couldn’t have finished them by any other method and without some system such as this one, you’d probably not even have decided which one was the most important.”

“Do this every morning. After you have convinced yourself of the value of the system, have your men try it. Try it as long as you wish, and send me a check for what you think it is worth.”

“In a few weeks, Schwab sent Lee twenty-five thousand dollars with a letter telling him that the twenty minutes they had spent was most profitable. Over the ensuing years it has been said that this method was responsible for the growth and profitability of Bethlehem Steel.

Working at the one job at hand is as logical and effective today as it was in Schwab’s time. If you worry about all the other things you should be doing while you work at important sales tasks, you’ll only drain yourself of effectiveness. Forget the other tasks and concentrate until you have finished the one task and you will be astonished at how profitable your time can be spent. If you really want to get things done, you’d better begin planning for your success.
It is as easy as:

1) Defining and setting measurable goals and plans,
2) Working out definite timing and activities, and
3) Then concentrating on the essentials.

If you don’t know where you are going, you certainly will never get there. Working according to a plan and setting priorities is the key to successfully selling products and services. You must be able to manage your time and focus on those activities that will bring you closer to your goals and eliminate those that won’t. Your time is money and the more time you spend on effective activities, the more success you will see.

You Too Can Become The Greatest Sales Person In The World

If you want to become the greatest sales person in the world you need to apply the same principles he applied. Let me tell you about Joe Girard.

In his fifteen-year new car sales career, Joe Girard sold 13, 001 cars. He holds the Guinness World Record for being the world’s greatest salesman. In 1973 he sold 1,425 cars and in one month sold 174 cars, most new car sales people are lucky to sell four or five cars per month. How did he do it? He loved his customers. His thoughts and activities were focused on his customers, not himself. In telling his story he said, “when you bought a car from me you didn’t just get a car, you got me!”

He would do anything and everything to take care of his customers. He claimed that he would rather take care of an existing customer than sell another car. His focus was on his customers. People want to be treated well and to feel that someone really cares about them. When it came to customer service he would instantly take care of his customers. He would always tell his customers how much he appreciated them and then he would treat them with appreciation and respect. People returned the love that Joe showed them by returning year after year to buy cars from him, and by referring their friends and families to him.

People buy from people they believe, like and trust. Joe Girard proved this statement correct. He told his customers that he loved them and then treated them that way. Their needs became the focus of his attention, not his own needs. Follow the example of the greatest sales person in the world, and you too will become the greatest sales person.