struggling with time management

dear all,

This week I inserted cd into my car each morning and turned the volume down to count my driving time.

The time would only go up when the engine was running, it went through 99 minutes and back to 99 minutes again. that's about 198 minutes per day every day (on average) meaning I spend about 3 hours each day in the car, what a waste!

Here are my options:

1) take leads provided by the company's cold calling lead generation department, they are rewarded on "stand up" appointments meaning if we meet the decision maker it is considered a successful appointment, we are not allowed to precall these appointments to screen them. also the appointment makers tend to send us to anything, as they have their own targets and compare their numbers with each other, so naturally the highest number of appointments is doing the "best" that day.

2) spend my own time on the phone prospecting.

its a trade off, go to better quality leads yet spend my own time on the phone, or go to low quality leads ..

a formula i thought of a few weeks ago:

commission = average commission x appointments per week x close ratio

since my close ratio is 20% i have to improve by either seeing more people (how physically possible is this) improve my close ratio (which i can increase by reducing the appointments i see every week, by prospecting on my own), or increase the size of the sale/commission (only I can do this, in the CCTV market).

your thoughts please!

it seems like a race against the clock, my time in the car is useless and represents 1/3rd of my day!

Quote:

Originally Posted by luka.

dear all,

This week I inserted cd into my car each morning and turned the volume down to count my driving time.

The time would only go up when the engine was running, it went through 99 minutes and back to 99 minutes again. that's about 198 minutes per day every day (on average) meaning I spend about 3 hours each day in the car, what a waste!

Here are my options:

1) take leads provided by the company's cold calling lead generation department, they are rewarded on "stand up" appointments meaning if we meet the decision maker it is considered a successful appointment, we are not allowed to precall these appointments to screen them. also the appointment makers tend to send us to anything, as they have their own targets and compare their numbers with each other, so naturally the highest number of appointments is doing the "best" that day.

2) spend my own time on the phone prospecting.

its a trade off, go to better quality leads yet spend my own time on the phone, or go to low quality leads ..

a formula i thought of a few weeks ago:

commission = average commission x appointments per week x close ratio

since my close ratio is 20% i have to improve by either seeing more people (how physically possible is this) improve my close ratio (which i can increase by reducing the appointments i see every week, by prospecting on my own), or increase the size of the sale/commission (only I can do this, in the CCTV market).

your thoughts please!

it seems like a race against the clock, my time in the car is useless and represents 1/3rd of my day!

Luka, I applaud you on getting busy figuring out what steps to take to maximize your efficiency and effectiveness.

I believe your analysis is correct. You can increase you earnings by:
-Increasing your closing percentage;
-Increasing your average sale; or
-Increasing the number of prospects you see or talk to.

A couple ideas:

If memory serves, you've had this job for a few months, right? And you've been going after the company supplied leads during that time, correct? One thing you could try is to devote a month or several to generating your own appointments, then compare results after the trial period.

Are you able to use your drive time on the phone to either generate your own leads or make follow-up phone calls, asking for referrals, etc.?

Do you have anybody you trust in your company that would be willing to provide you with some advice? It would be great if there were people in your company that could help point you in the right direction to save time from having to experiment.

Thanks Skip,

When the lead is generated by the company the business owner will say "okay - show me what you got", after I drove 30-60m to see them, i'm happy to demonstrate our product, sometimes I will ask "okay so what would you want a system like this for?". But really i'm not suprised that my close ratio is a low 18-20%
when i'm seeing people that the company has 'sold' an appointment to.

A sale will get me about $1500 in commission, but I feel pretty stupid "winning" the customer over when, it's an uphill battle, sales ability only goes so far in these situations doesn't it?

So I begin my presentation and then towards the end I ask for the business. I get a very frustrating "let me think about it".

It's driving me nuts, I want to earn six figures but I just speak to a lot of people who I truly have no idea if CCTV is what they want in their business.

At my close ratio it's really just a race against the clock, seeing more and more people, driving between the office and appointments, trying to "sell" people, while having no idea if they have any intention to buy.

If my close ratio stays what it is, and I continue to see company generated leads, unless my "selling skills" increase, what chance do I have to double my income?

Even the best car sales person in the world can't sell my a porsche when I go to a porsche dealer kicking tires. Feels like i'm seeing people who are just interested in a product, but can't afford it or justify the price for their company.

I don't feel like i'm selling at all, just "doing the numbers" with about 15 hours of driving, 4 hours presenting in a 40 hour week.

Am I inexperienced or is this just the reality of selling?

How do you make >$200,000 in sales with only 40 hours a week. Become a better 'converter of leads' or sell higher value products

struggling with time management

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