“I Can’t Hit Target – But I Can’t Work Any Harder”

When people say “I just can’t do any more!” – the world never seems to believe them.

Because it isn’t true – is it?

Of course you could do more.

You could work until 3 in the morning – hey, don’t sleep at all – you could miss your kids childhood, spend no time at all with you friends, let the relationship with your partner crumble to dust, push yourself harder and harder until you eventually fall to the floor clutching your chest.

Of course you can do more – you’ve not killed yourself or ruined your life completely – yet.

You can always do more – until you can’t.

But here’s the thing – working harder and harder doesn’t make bad strategy good – it doesn’t matter how high you climb up your ladder if it’s up against the wrong wall.

Climbing the ladder will drain your energy until you have nothing left – but the wall will always be the wrong wall.

Here’s something that I usually only share with people who join me at one of my workshops.

When they tell me that they need to grow their business, particularly in business-to-business sales, I point them to this diagram – because whatever’s blocking growth can always be cleared by focusing on just one section – every single time.

I call it the “3 Paths to Business Growth” – there’s a short explanation of each section below, together with a couple of links to resources that you may find useful regarding each heading.

PAC: The 3 Paths to Business Growth

Presentations

This is where you hear the team saying things like;

“If I could get in front of more customers I’d get an order – it’s just that I can’t get in front of enough of the right people!”

This is a PROSPECTING issue and requires a deeper knowledge of sales prospecting and 21st century customer attraction techniques. Your team need to fully understand who to call, how to become commercially attractive, when to call them and what to say when they do.

Additional Resource – Article / Video: Why Busy Salespeople Don’t Hit Target

Related Training / Workshops: 2 Day Business Development Masterclass

Agreements

This is where you hear the team saying things like;

“I see lots of people – but they don’t want to buy – so I can’t close enough deals to hit target!”

This is a SALES SKILLS issue and is solved with a better understanding or the four-step cycle found in every business transaction; Earn the Right; Ask the Appropriate Questions; Solve the Problem; Execute the Solution.

Additional Resource – Article / Video: How to Close Every Genuine Sales Opportunity

Related Training / Workshops: 2 Day Business Development Masterclass

Cost

There are 3 elements to this one Time, Money, Effort.

It’s all about expenditure – how much should you (or can you afford to) spend with regards to each one.
How much time can you spend on each client? How much does it cost to convert a cold contact to a new customer? How much effort can we put behind our plans?

And do we have that much – Time, Money and Effort – to play with?

This is a STRATEGY issue and is solved by improving the Leadership and Management Skills of the Sales Team’s Manager and the Time Management and Account Management Skills of the sales team itself, together with a focused sense of direction and vision from the hierarchy of the business.

Additional Resource – Article / Video: The 3 Questions Every Sales Manager Needs to Ask

Related Training / Workshops: 2 Day Business Development Masterclass

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