Activity: A Recipe for Success
Activity Matters
Activity is really just about how a person spends time. A recipe for optimizing sales activity is:
- Set a clear goal – For example $1M in revenue in the next 90 days.
- Identify the four top high payoff activities required to achieve the goal. Examples include, prospecting calls that lead to discovery meetings that lead to Mutual Action Plans that lead to revenue.
- Plan backwards from the goal to determine how many of each activity is required. As an example, if your average deal size is $250K and your close rate is 50%, you will need eight MAP’s in the next 90 days to achieve the goal.
If you don’t know the numbers, take your best guess. If you do this for a quarter or two, you will no longer be guessing because you will know your numbers.
- Build a daily activity plan. Your plan, as an example, may require you to make 30 outbounds dials each day, to set one discovery meeting, to co-build one MAP per week to close the desired revenue.
This was my personal recipe for success when I hung out my sales training shingle in 1993. Today the world is a lot different. It is actually a lot easier to research and contact people. But the basics are the same.
- Build a behavior trap for the prospecting portion. Examples include:
- Schedule a 90-minute appointment with yourself.
- Even better, schedule the time with an accountability partner.
- Do your preparation before the dedicated prospecting time, so when you prospect, all you do is dial.
- Track your results. Set up some simple system that is easy to maintain. I suggest something very simple like a United Way thermometer. Keep the visual progress chart visible, so you can’t help but see it. It is even better if everyone can see it.
We cannot manage time. We cannot manage outcomes. All we can manage is our behavior. Build the best behavior plan, then work the plan.
Learn more about the full Sales Star Coaching Model.