The only people who deny having quotas are cops. Other than that, we all, especially salespeople, have quotas to meet. The problem with sales quotas is that they can be set very high and bring a lot of stress and pressure to our lives.
In 2007, my roommate was a chick. She had this boyfriend who worked for UPS. One night, he told me why he was never going to get a raise at work. He said his job had a daily delivery quota to reach. The quota was insane and almost unattainable. Once you finally got good enough to hit the daily quota, it was raised. He knew the better he got at his job, the more work he would have to do, for the same pay.
I feel like many salespeople think like UPS. The more sales they make, the more time they have to spend at work, away from the things they really want to be doing. It’s like the saying coined by the great philosopher Puff Daddy, “Mo money. Mo problems.”
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
We live in a time where you can have technology do the tedious work you begrudge on a daily basis.
You know, the sh*t most of us hate to do. Like follow-up, for example. We know it takes 8-12 touches in order to close most sales. Most salespeople think this means calling and emailing 8-12 times.
Most of the 8-12 calls and emails you’ll send will be the same thing. Matter of fact, over 90 percent of the calls you make will go directly to voicemail. So, why not automate your emails and voicemails? You can set up campaigns from Aweber and Slybroadcast to email and leave voicemails every other day for two weeks or so.
This makes it so you ONLY have to speak with people ready to buy what you sell. Think of how much time this saves you as a salesperson. Even more so, think of all the extra sales you’ll close by actually following up with people.
It’s truly a win-win situation for everyone.
Imagine your life with the proper systems in place. One we can use to resolve the main problem we face in sales: the fact that we spend most of our time doing things other than closing. Follow up is not closing. Lead gen is not closing. The only time we get paid is when we close. So, why not only focus on closing and outsource everything else?
My best guess is that most salespeople don’t realize how cheap it is to set all this up and how easy it is to implement. If everyone knew, then everyone would be doing it. Yet here we are, in 2017, with all this technology, and most people are still spending hours each day manually calling and emailing prospects.
Think of what you could do with all the extra sales and the extra time. If you spend 10 percent of your day closing now, you’ll spend 90 percent of your day doing something other than the tedious work you regret having to do daily.
With more follow-up going on, you’ll undoubtedly get more sales in the door. This allows you to spend 20 percent of your time closing and 80 percent of your time on strategy. If you focus correctly, you’ll use strategies on follow up to convert higher numbers, and you’ll use automation in other areas of your pipeline.
There’s really no excuse for you to do things that don’t pay you immediately.
I personally use a combination of touches to speed up the prospecting process on autopilot. I have a program that allows me to send DMs to people on Facebook on autopilot. I send three messages over the course of three days. On top of that, I send one to two emails per day to build rapport. Finally, I use Slybroadcast to send voicemails over the course of a few days. Occasionally, I’ll send out mass texts, too. But only when it’s the right fit. I don’t like blowing people’s texts up (at first.)
The beauty of automation is that it’s a one-and-done situation. On your normal day, you spend 10 hours doing the work. But if you spend 10 hours doing automation work, it’s done forever. This is called “getting leverage,” and so many salespeople miss the mark on it.
-You write 8 emails, and you’re done for life.
-You record 8 voicemails, and you’re done for life.
-You create 8 auto texts, and you’re done for life.
How long can it take you to do all of the above? A day? A week? Would you be willing to put in a couple of months of work behind the scenes to make your life easier and your bank account fatter? You should be, if not, you ain’t living right.
If you don’t know how to set these types of automation sequences up, you need to learn how to do so immediately. Here’s why; it’s only a matter of time before your competitor sets it up. The fact that you are reading this now gives you a head start and advantage. It’s up to you to take action.
If you’d like to work with my team on setting up automation and systems for your business, join our Entourage program at www.breakfreeacademy.com/entourage
