We used to Coach our clients to get out of the office & see prospects &/or customers. In the last 4 years we’ve been known to tell them to get out of the house.
Imagine how that has gone over: The office is cozy. The house is even cozier. Why would anyone want to leave?
Because, as salespeople (outside salespeople) . . . it’s their job.
Why are salespeople spending more & more time in the office or at home these days? 3 reasons:
- Phone & text
- It’s easy
Without question, the phone/text & 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 voice mail. And to some salespeople, that’s work. Do enough emails & voice mails & 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 & utter hogwash!
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 outsold 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 & 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.
