3 Reasons Your Salespeople are Not Getting Out of the Office

Why is it that salespeople (outside salespeople) are spending more & more time in the office these days?

3 reasons:

  1. Email
  2. Phone
  3. It’s easy

Without question, the phone & email make it easy for salespeople to communicate with their prospects & customers. It’s a piece of cake to send a quick email. It takes no time at all to leave a voicemail. And to some salespeople, that’s work. Do enough emails & voicemails & you’ll be tired by the end of the week.

There are salespeople that do nothing but send emails & make phone calls to prospects & customers. Nothing else. Ask them & they’ll tell you they are being efficient with their time, saying things like “I can get so much more done through email.” Yes, you can. There are others that have talked themselves into believing that their prospects & customers don’t want to see them. Tell yourself that enough times & you’ll start to believe it, too. Yes, you will.

But that doesn’t mean it’s right. It just means it’s easy.

When was the last time (in business) that the easy thing to do was the right thing to do? How about never. You’d be hard-pressed to find one example of the easy thing being the right thing – especially in sales.

One of the most ridiculous things we hear from salespeople is that they don’t have enough time to see prospects & customers. One more time… there are salespeople that say they don’t have enough time to do their job (go out & see prospects & customers & develop relationships). Complete & total hog-wash!

The fix? Step one (the hard step) is to eliminate the “head trash”. Head trash is the belief that, “I can get so much more done through email.” Head trash is, “My customers don’t want to see me.” If you really believe these things, you will never get out of the office. You will never develop relationships with customers. You will be out-sold by competitors that do.

Step two is getting out. Asking your customers for a visit. Getting invited in to discuss things that you are doing over email now. Your customers will see you. Believe it or not, most of them want to.

Ways to ask for meetings:

  • Let’s get together to determine next steps.
  • We should meet & discuss this.
  • Let me come in & discuss this with you.
  • Can I come by & meet with you to discuss this?
  • I should bring (engineer, designer, director, etc.) with me & meet with you & ___________.
  • Can we get together & hash this out? … talk this through? 

But, that takes work. Yes, this takes time. Sure, it takes away from other things you have to do. But, if you are in sales (a career salesperson) what could you possibly have to do that is more important than meeting with customers & prospects?

It’s not easy. But, it’s right.

Posted in

Dave Tear

Dave is passionate about selling & helping others understand the sales process. Whether a client company has a 5 person sales team or a 300 person National sales force, Dave can Coach & Train them to be the best in their industry.
Get in Touch

Ready for Your Sales Team to Take it to the Next Level?

Dave's helped dozens upon dozens of companies up their sales game. Find out how he can help your team take it to the next level!

Also from the Sales Coach's Corner...

Motivation Does Not Work!

There! I said it. Owners of Companies, Presidents,  VPs of Sales & Sales Managers ... HEAR THIS... You ...
Read More

Sales is nothing more than setting expectations

How many times have you left a sales appointment... walked to your car in the parking lot... & ...
Read More

The rules have changed in sales

The rules have changed for Salespeople! Prospects are more educated than they have ever been before. Companies are ...
Read More

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR

NEWSLETTER