(By Lisa Thal) How will you answer the question “What is the one thing that can transform your sales into exceeding budget?” In sales, our one true job description is to create more revenue than expected. I do understand that we have many layers of responsibilities, and it’s easy to lose focus. So, I ask, what is the one thing you can get focused on right now to help your revenue?
The one thing that transformed my business was creating a system that included strategic steps and timelines to hold me accountable each day. I understand that in order to be successful overall, we must start with having a successful day! We can lose focus on what needs to get done by concentrating our efforts on items that have no impact on generating revenue. I needed a better plan.
I now schedule time on my calendar each week to focus on my priorities. I know if it is scheduled on my Outlook calendar, it has a greater chance of getting done. I set one daily outcome that is a must for me to complete. By the end of the week, I should have a minimum of five things done that I decided to accomplish!
One example of how I use the “one thing” system is finding sales
talent for our team to help drive revenue. This is a critical component
of my position as a leader. I must always be developing current talent and building relationships for future talent. What I discovered was that I needed a pipeline of talent so in the event I needed to grow my team or replace a current member, I’d be ready. I wanted to have more control and be more prepared if I needed to make a change with my current team.
So now I schedule time on my calendar to “Identify Sales Leaders.” That’s right, I review resumes sent to the station, and I also prospect on LinkedIn to see who may have the sales talent and skills needed when the next
opportunity arises. I look for sales talent in other industries as well.
I start with my top five talent targets and begin by reaching out and getting to know what they are looking for to see if there is a fit.
Now it’s your turn. What is the one thing that stands between you and your outcomes? Schedule 30 minutes on your calendar to access and reflect on where your business is currently. Start by writing down several things you would like to focus on.
Walk your team through the following exercise in your next sales meeting. I would recommend allowing them time to think about the current state of their business and what they need to do to improve their performance. Next, have them write down five things they have decided could improve
their billing. Finally, have them choose one thing they will share with the team that they have committed to doing each day. They need to agree to schedule it on their calendar.
The following examples may help you guide them to generate ideas or create conversation.
Identify one more meaningful prospect to call.
Research for one more valid business reason for the prospect to schedule time with you.
Track how many pitches you do each day or each week and aim to increase it by one.
Improve your meetings to convert to revenue.
Ask a customer who said no what kept you from working together.
Ask a happy customer for a referral.
Delegate to your support team other non-sales tasks so you can be in front of more prospects or current customers.
Research a vertical that aligns with your station demographics and get focused on meeting those prospects.
No more procrastinating. It’s time to get focused on the one thing you need to do today to make more money!
Lisa Thal is the general sales manager for Hubbard Interactive Cincinnati. She’s also the author of Three Word Meetings: A Simple Strategy to Engage, Inspire and Empower Your Team. Get it on Amazon.com.
Lisa, there’s one way to most profitably respond to “What is the one thing that can transform your sales into exceeding budget?”.
That’s to deliver our advertisers documented sales results they can measure and directly attribute to radio.
The systems, strategies, tactics and tools exist – and they generate more revenue for advertisers; with more premium rate, 52 week business, built on more sales and profit per hour of radio prospecting, preparing, presenting, closing and servicing.
Advertisers have been calling for this since radio began; and it beats me as to why our industry largely ignores these calls.
As part of our presentations, when we ask our advertisers: “How do you measure the money you make, or how much money did you make last week/month/year with ?; it’s a compelling competitive advantage when we follow their response with: “With me, you’ll know and you’ll get a documented sales result. We’re able to start this Monday or next. What works better for you?”
I really didn’t see anything useful in this piece. The lady wades through a lot of buzz words and busy work to arrive at a conclusion that more calls means more sales. Well…no kidding.
As she looks for salespeople she searches and considers and wonders. Her job is to have a full compliment of salespeople and reach the goals set forth by ownership, not wondering who “might fit.”
Management’s only job is to cause events to happen that will satisfy ownership.