What’s the point?
The point is a good thing to know before you set out on an epic journey. And let’s face it most sales jobs are epic journeys. They’re not easy and they go on for a long time. There’s a ton of sweat and some tears involved in most of them. Epic!
I’m going to be writing approximately ten posts next on how to prepare for such an epic journey.
As mentioned in my last post, I’m limiting this preparation “manual” to ten posts to keep things “agile”. I know in real life you probably have someone already breathing down your neck waiting for those first sales of yours to roll in so I know you don’t have a lot of time for preparation.
But even if we keep the prep brief, you need to know the point of all this. It’s going to be a ton of work so you need to know the payoff.
What do you want someday? What do you want in five years? In one year? In one month? And this week?
How does what you do this week affect what gets completed this month? How does what you do this month affect what you get done this year? How does what you do this year affect where you end up in five years and “someday”?
I’m taking this approach from a book called the The One Thing. You should definitely check it out if you want to be sure you’re not wasting your time this week, this month, this year and in your life.
In the book this approach is called “goal setting to the now” and it’s visually like nested Russian dolls (matryoshka dolls technically.) This week’s achievements dictate where you end up this month, this month’s results where you end up this year, etc.
When you’re in sales, time management is huge. We will talk about that.
What you use your time for depends on your goals. In sales you often need to block out time for prospecting—calls, emails and events. But how many calls, emails and events you have to complete depends on your goals.
Where do you want all this activity to take you? A house in the Bahamas or a new Weber grill? Those different goals are likely to require a different level of effort. What are you trying to get done?
Where does all this selling actually get you? What’s the point?