Sales Performance - It's 5 o'clock Somewhere

"Pour me somethin' tall and strong, make it a hurricane before I go insane.  It's only half past twelve, but I don't care......It's five o'clock somewhere".

Isn't it amazing how many people hold to this mantra in their professional lives?  Sometimes I wonder if the people I compete against in the adult world have changed at all since they were in High School.  It seems like every Friday, quitting time is somewhere around 11:30 in the morning.  If that doesn't happen in your job, one of two situations exists: first, you work for a highly motivated company, or second, you work for a heavily managed company.  If you work for the first, you are lucky.  If you work for the second, you might as well quit at 11:30 with everyone else out there, you will never be happy.

I love it when people leave work early on Friday to make sure they get the best seat in the bar.  They want to be belly up so that they can take advantage of all of the best drink specials.  What do I say?  Bottoms up, my friends!  In fact, to my competition:  Here's a twenty, the first ten rounds are on me!  The truth is that many people are just fundamentally lazy.  If you remember from my previous post, I am in an industry that is saturated with "c" players.  Case in point: the bar is full of "c" players on Friday after lunch.  Most days I eat my lunch at my desk because that is when I will get the majority of my paperwork done.  I am able to concentrate on returning emails, etc. because everyone I need to talk to is usually unavailable from 11:30 until 1:30.  It is a good time to knock out all of the things I have to set aside while I am taking phone calls.  If I take a lunch break, it is to meet a client or to network.  I made a rule early on in my sales career that has proven to work for me:

Never eat lunch in public alone.

I want to see and be seen if I am going to have a lunch meeting.  I want for my peers and competition alike to wonder what I am up to.  I want them to think that I am able to close a different deal every day because they always see me with someone new.  If you can't afford to entertain for lunch, meet for coffee.  Meeting your prospects and networking contacts in the mid afternoon for a cup of coffee will only cost you about 5 dollars, but it will pay you back exponentially.  In addition, it will give you a little energy boost so that you don't start to nod off toward the end of everyone else's work day.

I can honestly say that I am different than any of my competition, and that isn't a completely bad thing.  Other than working through lunch, I choose to work until a little later int he evenings.  I find that if I start a couple of hours earlier and finish a couple of hours later, I tend to be able to connect to like-minded people when I reach out to them during those times.  People like me (who go to work early and stay late) tend to answer their phones when you call at that time.  They also have an instant level of respect for you, because they assume you are working as hard as they do.  If you want to shake things up a little bit, try it for two weeks.  Start you work at 7am in stead of 9 and finish at 7pm instead of 5.  I am willing to bet you will notice results nearly instantly.

Besides going in early, dare to be different on the phones.  Quit reading from a script.  I realize that every sales trainer out there that wants you to learn how to sell according to their method, will have you writing a script and using it on the phone.  Hogwash!  Be yourself.  People want to buy from you because they like you and they know you are competent.  If you can just be yourself on the phone, those people who choose to meet with you will do so because they felt a connection.  I can tell you that I am an absolutely horrendous telemarketer.  I am the worst guy on the phones you will ever hear.  Guess what?  I get results.  I tell people that I am horrible on the phones and I get straight to the point.  If I leave a voice message, I tell the person on the receiving end "I know I am horrible on the phones, and probably will never make it professionally as a result, but if you feel sorry for me and would like to see how I have helped similar companies in the area, please call me back".  Guess what?  I get my calls returned.  People laugh, people truly feel sorry for me, but people call me back.  They appreciate my being honest and as a result end up doing business with me. 

One of my favorite Seinfeld episodes is the one where George "always leaves on a high note". If you want to get to the next step with your prospects, you have to leave them wanting more. Don't go into a first appointment and vomit all of your knowledge all over the table. Don't give them a ton of leave behind information that they can give to their current provider and have them execute. Here's a novel idea, develop a very few open-ended questions and ask them when you are on your appointments. Let the prospect do the talking. Most people love to talk about themselves more than any other topic. If, after they have rambled for 30 minutes or so they are interested in you, they will start to ask you questions. Now, is your time to shine. Give succinct answers. Use examples of how you have helped others with your solutions, but never tell them the solution. If they ask you how you did something, it's because they want to replicate your work. Give them enough, but not too much. Work when no one else is working. Be yourself. That about sums it up. In the words of George Costanza "That's it! I'm outta' here".

David R. Carothers, CIC, CRM is a Risk Management Consultant and Licensed Insurance Agent with Praxiom based in Tampa, FL. To contact David Directly, please email him atdrc@praxiom-rm.com.