GETTING IT OUT OF THE WAY

As a Sales Rep, the biggest fear I had was going out into the field for a full day and not writing any orders. The good news is that once I wrote an order I could go the rest of the day with absolutely no sales fear at all. No fear also meant no self- imposed pressure which made for a fantastic sales day for me.

So what did I do every day to assure a sale? WHATEVER IT TOOK! I would arrange my sales calls so I would be going to the customers and prospects that I felt gave me the greatest possibility of a sale first thing in the morning. What I am saying is really simple, I stacked the deck.

I knew that once I made a sale the rest of my day would go great and that if I didn’t make a sale early I would be so tense, so uptight, and eventually so desperate that it became even harder to make a sale. My fear of not selling was the reason I would end up not selling, this is called a ”Catch 22”.

I decided that my best plan was to always get it out of the way early so I could have fun and make more sales.

Many of the reps I ride with have the same fear as I did, maybe not to the same degree, but definitely the same fear. As I work with them and discover this fact I always ask them what they think they could do to help themselves. I have no idea why, but they rarely have an answer.

As I talk to these reps I try and find out why they don’t see the same solution I saw. I try and lead them to my solution, but most never seem to get there.

When I finally tell them what I used to do they usually accuse me of cheating. They say that arranging my day to make a sale early isn’t playing by the rules, it is manipulating the territory. My answer is as long as I see the customers I am supposed to see and I am not doing anything that is against any policy the company has it is definitely OK to do. As a matter of fact, I am sure my manager and the company would want me to do it because it set the stage for a better day of selling.

There are some sales reps that don’t have the luxury of setting their own schedule, but for any rep that makes their own schedule and route, getting the first sale out of the way early is always a good idea.

Lorin