SOP’S

What are your Standard Operating Procedures? Maybe the real question is do you have Standard Operating Procedures? If you are asking what is a Standard Operating Procedure than you have come to the right spot!

Think about something you do over and over again other than make sales calls. I think about mowing my grass. I take the same steps every week when I mow. First I start my mower and drive it to my yard shed. I shut it off and open my shed, open my back gate, fill the gas tank get back on my mower and start mowing from the same place in my front yard. I travel back and forth in the same pattern on my front yard and then drive across the driveway and mow my side yard. When I’m done I pull my mower back under my deck, get out my blower, clean up any clippings that are on the driveway and put the blower away. I close the shed, close the gate, and take a shower! I’m DONE!

These steps are my SOP’s for mowing my yard. Now you need to understand that SOP’s have nothing to do with BEST PRACTICES, they are just the standard way of doing a task.

Now I need you to think about a task you do in the same step by step detail. If you do this with pen and paper you will be amazed how precise you can be listing each step you take. OK now that you have that done, start thinking about your sales presentation. Do you have steps that you take each time? Can you make a list of your sales SOP’s?

I know that my readers are anything but average, however, half of you can’t make a list of your SOP’s because you don’t have SOP’s. What you do is approach every sale differently, you fly by the seat of your pants and take everything as it comes.

I LOVE THAT, except for one thing, you are making a hard job harder. For my beloved readers that have SOP’s keep developing them into the greatest sales presentation possible. For my dear readers that don’t have SOP’s, why not start making your life easier.

I believe in always showing a customer WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) and right now everyone who can’t list their sales SOP’s are my customers, and what I have to offer you is an opportunity to be better at what you do. Right now you are good, some of you are GREAT sales reps I have no doubt. Think how much better you could be if you didn’t need to always be on guard for what you are doing next. Instead of the customer always leading you through the sale, your SOP’s help you lead the customer.

I love sales reps, and I love helping them find ways to maximize their efficiency.

Lorin