February 17, 2009

One extra hour of revenue creating (sales) activity per day

This is targeted to sales, small business owners and entrepreneurs:

The best way to counter the economy's funk is to create your own oasis of good news: with a sale.  This week, you need to add five hours of "money-seeking" time to your schedule.  If you sell a service, go back to some old clients and talk about new value-oriented products you've just launched.  If you have a product with some recent improvements, suck it up and make five cold calls a day this week.  

I'm not talking about marketing or PR, either.  I'm talking about phone or face-to-face "can I write you up for a sale" pitch and close.  For many, it's a bit of a shock to the system -- especially if you've been more reactive in nature over the last few years.  

In my case, I'm reconnecting with meeting planners or bureau agents from years gone by, sharing my new speaking topic (Creating Great Relationships During Tough Times) with them.  I'm also listening to them, understanding what they are going through, and seeing if there's anything I can do to help.   This strategy works, too.  In each week I've invested five incremental hours in sales, a 2009 revenue opportunity was created.  Sure, most people are tight with money right now.  But if you've created a recession-friendly product or service, you can find someone with cash to spend and a need to solve.  

Welcome to the new sales driven world of small business success!  (PS - What else were you going to do with that five hours, graze around the net or office?)

Posted at 3:53 PM in Business Effectiveness , Business Trends , Current Affairs  |  Permalink  |  Comments (4)  |  TrackBack (0)

Comments

Commentor

Tim, I love it! As always your insights are right on. There is nothing more important in a down market than protecting our prospecting time. In my company we refer to them as "The Golden Hours" and focusing on your Critical Success Factors. I just recently turned off my Outlook email notification and it's made a huge difference in my ability to stay focused during that time! For more on Critical Success Factors check this: http://takethestairs.wordpress.com/2009/01/30/critical-success-factors%e2%84%a2/

Posted by: Rory Vaden  |  March 06, 2009 at 07:07 AM

Commentor

Excellent post Tim! The best way to get out of a recessionary funk is to take your destinty into your own hands and do something about your situation. Your suggestions are perfect for doing this!

I've featured your post in my weekly Rainmaker 'Fab Five' blog picks of the week (found here: http://www.maximizepossibility.com/employee_retention/2009/02/the-rainmaker-fab-five-blog-picks-of-the-week-3.htm) to share your message with my readers.

Be well!

Posted by: Chris Young  |  February 22, 2009 at 07:38 PM

Commentor

Great idea!
It reminds me of Dave Logan's post on how there are actually "two recessions"

http://blog.threelawsofperformance.com/2009/01/21/the-two-recessions/

Posted by: Robert Richman  |  February 20, 2009 at 12:38 PM

Commentor

I think at first, it would be tough to dig out that extra hour. We all feel like we're working at maximum capacity to begin with. But I bet when those extra sales started rolling in, it would be real easy to keep going!

And thanks Tim for letting us know that it brought you results. Nothing like someone else's success to make us want some too.

Posted by: Beth Bridges  |  February 17, 2009 at 07:19 PM

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