I have different ways to test sales reps to see which ones are committed and have their head in the game and which ones don’t. One way I do this is by calling on a day like today, when their company is closed but some customers’ businesses are open. In these situations, I don’t mention ahead of time that I know it’s a company day off and discuss whether or not we’d be having our usual scheduled call, I simply call at our typical appointment time to see if they will answer. 99% of the time, the top reps answer, the others don’t.
Here’s what happened today: I had my first sales coaching call scheduled for 5:30 am; I called, no answer, so I left a message. Call two, 6:15, no answer. Call three, 7:00, Will answered his phone. I knew he would. Why? Will is the top sales rep I work with. For Will it’s a workday. After all, it’s not January 1st, it’s January 2nd, and even though his company is closed, some of the companies he calls on are open, so Will’s open. After a quick “Happy New Year” and a bit of personal conversation, Will was on to what he had going for the day and this week and how he was going to execute his business plan that we developed toward the end of last year.
I won’t go into all my other calls, I’ll simply say this, as is typical, the top reps answered their phones and the others didn’t. This is an example of the top sales reps not falling into the same traps or making the excuses that the average and poor sales reps make.
When one of the average reps got back to me later on Monday, I mentioned the importance of starting the year strong and in particular the first business day and week of the year. What was his response? “Well our company gave us the day off, plus most businesses are closed today. Also, tomorrow and Wednesday, because most businesses took off Friday plus Monday, they’re going to be catching up on messages and other stuff, so I’ll probably start making a few calls on Thursday.”
While he might be right about some companies taking those days off, there are a couple of problems with his assumption. First, not all companies took those days off, and second, even if they did, they don’t need two days to catch up. The primary reason this rep, and other average to poor reps, are waiting to make calls is that they’re looking for excuses not to make the calls.
Here is another example. A few days before this past Thanksgiving, I heard a salesperson say, “Yeah, well, we only have a couple of days this week and then of course everyone pretty much takes off the rest of the year, with the holidays coming, so I’ll probably wrap up my prospecting for the year this week.” I’ve heard something similar to that every week during Thanksgiving since I began in sales in 1987. Regarding that thought, first, no prospect or client takes off the entire last six weeks of the year. Zero. Yes, most take some time, a few days to as much as a week or two, but not Thanksgiving week, the rest of November, and all of December. Second, if you slack off the last six weeks of the year, you’re missing almost 12% of the entire selling year. That’s a lot of selling time and will absolutely negatively affect your sales numbers.
Other times when salespeople like to use a similar excuse not to make calls are: in the summer, Friday afternoons, and off-season for seasonal businesses. On that last one, I once worked with a company that during the busy season said their sales reps had to shift to service mode and as a result, they made zero new sales calls. When the busy season was over and they had time to call, I heard, “no one’s around”, or “people aren’t buying now because they don’t need the equipment right now.” And this company brought me in because they couldn’t figure out why they had trouble getting new customers. Well, if you make few to zero initial and follow-up calls on new customers…
If you skip making calls on Friday afternoons, you essentially miss 10% of a five-day workweek. Combine that with taking off the last six weeks of the year and now you’re down 22%. So, now you have 78% of time to hit 100% of quota.
The above said, what are the advantages of calling people Friday afternoons, around the holidays, and at other slow times including the days before and after Thanksgiving, December 24th, and December 31st? The first advantage is that people usually have more time to talk to you. Things do slow down a bit and people who would be trying to get the prospect’s attention at other times of the year and week, including competitive salespeople, aren’t calling on them because most people make excuses to relax and not work at these times. Next, people are generally in a better mood on Friday afternoons and around the holidays. Finally, you’ll stand out from the lazy and unmotivated salespeople who take off early on Fridays and don’t make calls on and around holidays. As a side note, I made one of the biggest sales I ever made in 35 years, into a competitive account, a little after 3 p.m. on December 31st. I can’t tell you how many sales I’ve closed at Christmas, Fourth of July, and other holiday parties, and on Friday afternoons, but it’s been A LOT.
Here’s a rule I follow regarding holidays and other days off: if your customers are open for business, you’re open for business. Just because your company is closed the Friday after Thanksgiving, or on the 5th of July because July 4th was on a Sunday, doesn’t mean your customers’ businesses aren’t open. If they’re open, you’re taking and making calls.
John Chapin is a motivational sales speaker and trainer. For his free newsletter, or to have him speak at your next event, go to: www.completeselling.com John has over 35 years of sales experience as a number-one sales rep and is the author of the 2010 sales book of the year: Sales Encyclopedia. You can reprint provided you keep contact information in place. E-mail: johnchapin@completeselling.com.
