COMMENTS
and you wonder why you don't get comments
I don't have time to prospect. The dog ate my paper. I have to much admin to do. The economy is down. The company doesn't have competitive products. My dog ate my paper. Were do we start. Yes there are some committed sales people and they are usually at the top of the charts and normally not in their office. Of all the stuff that we hear out there it normally leads to excuses as to why they don't have time to prospect. We love to hear that. We just simply take them through the exercise of 10 calls. You make 10 dials, the statistics tell us beyond a doubt that on an extremely good day you might talk to 3 people. So the question always is, "how long does it take to not talk to 7 people?'
Hi Dave,
You are "right on" about less commitment of sales people today.
Rather than naming "names" here is a RANT about what I have repeatedly seen as the underlying cause of the problem. At the heart of this "lack of commitment" are two areas: Excuse making (which their managers and executives allow, believe & blindly accept in our politically correct world...because they don't want to "upset" or "alienate" any sales person) and another "phenomenon" borrowed from the current American political scene: That the "under-performers" are VICTIMS who deserve "entitlements" and that is okay in today's society & workplace! Because many of the politicians are always trying to appeal to "victims" many in our workforce identify with this enabling message and take it to the workplace so someone/some manager can either "help" them or "understand" them or "give them a pass" because that's easier than making a personal commitment or changing and doing the productive work that successful sales people commit to doing on a regular basis ( the daily number of dials, the conversations, the appointments, the monthly activity and results, etc.)
Early in my career, one of my first managers told me a FACT about success: if you want to do well in business and sales, do the things that unsucessful sales people can't or won't do and you will succeed. He was correct back then and it is still excellent advice today!
So to those frustrated by under commited sales people around them: make a list of the critical things the under-achievers aren't doing...and do it. Commit to doing it and watch them in your "rear view mirror" as you pass them by.