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How to Stop Procrastinating in Sales – Part 3

Sales Professor Ramez Helou

What is easier; to push a car that is fully stopped or a car that is in movement?

Of course, a car in movement is the right answer.

When you think about it, whenever you want to do something new, especially if you’re not very good at it, it’s like pretty much pushing a standstill car and that’s why we simply might not like it.

So, the third thing that you can do to help yourself avoid procrastination is to equip yourself with the knowledge and skills so that you have the confidence to do the task that needs to be done.

Let me give you a story; a few years ago a friend of mine asked me to help his sister-in-law in finding a job.

So, I gave her a call and I got to know this young lady.

I discovered that she really had good people skills and communication skills.

I said “you know what? You really sound like someone that would do well in sales; have you considered the profession of selling?”

She said, “oh no not selling” (as if she became allergic to that!)

I said “why? What happened?”

She said “well I tried that and it didn’t work”

I said “well what exactly did you try?”

She said “when I graduated college I took an internship.”

“I worked with this one ad agency and  the manager on the first day of my job gave me a list of clients and said these are our clients that bought from us before. Why don’t you give them a call and see if they want to buy more.”

I said “well that’s pretty cool but has he given you any training?”

She said “training? No.” 

I said “has he given you a script at least?”

She replied “A script? What is that?”

I said “well has he at least made five or ten phone calls with you and watched you make some calls and give you some guidance and coaching?”

She said “Ramez he didn’t do any of the stuff I mean he just sent me out there to do it and I just didn’t like it”

I don’t blame this girl, she just simply had a horrible experience in something when she got little or no guidance. 

Now of course, if this is what’s happening you can imagine that we might not want to do certain calls with customers.

You might not want to visit customers if we have been rejected or if there’s been a difficult thing.

So, what is our responsibility?

The third thing in terms of helping you overcome procrastination is to get the knowledge and develop that knowledge into becoming a skill so that you have the confidence to do whatever you need to do.

This is Ramez Helou founder and keynote speaker of the Academy for Sales Excellence.

I speak at events and conferences to inspire, educate and motivate sales teams to sell more, sell profitably and faster.

How to Stop Procrastinating in Sales – Part 2

Sales Professor Ramez Helou

The second step in beating procrastination and selling is to break it down.

Break the process down; let me give you a story – many years ago I used to be afraid of swimming.

Now, we’re talking many years ago because today of course I love swimming; yet, I remember as if it was yesterday.

My brother Hanny took me by the hands and put me at the corner of the pool and he told me, Ramez, I want you to try and get to the other side; just a small distance, I’m gonna be 

right behind you.

It’s a small distance; you can cross it, go for it.

So I did.

Now he said, great, do it again; go a little bit further and then a little bit further, and a little bit further and within about 10 to 15 minutes he had shown me that actually I was swimming by simply breaking it down.

Are you breaking it down for yourself and for your team?

Hi my name is Sales Professor Ramez Helou and I’m the founder and keynote speaker of The Academy for Sales Excellence.

I speak at events and conferences to inspire, educate and motivate sales teams to sell more, faster and profitably.

So breaking it down is really that big of a deal, yes.

Unfortunately, I’ve been with lots of sales professionals that are overwhelmed by the big lofty goals that they have to achieve.

You can achieve your sales goals by breaking them down, reducing tasks to the smallest measurable unit and or what you have got to.

So here’s an example; let’s say you want to earn ten thousand dollars in earnings.

If you make ten percent commission, it means you have to do a hundred thousand dollars of sales, right?

If the average sales order that you produce is ten thousand dollars, therefore you have to make 10 orders at 10,000 dollars each which produces your 100,000.

At ten percent commission, there’s your ten thousand dollars.

Let’s suppose you have a 50 percent closing ratio; that means that you have to visit 20 prospects to close 10 sales.

If you divide 20 people into four weeks you have to see five people per week; five people per week, that’s it.

It’s like one person a day; come on! 

So a person a day; so how many phone calls do you have to do to get one person a day?

Now, let’s say for every 10 calls, you confirm 1 meeting; a 10% appointment rate.

You can go to work every morning and say I have to just get my 10 calls in.

I want to get my 10 calls so that I can achieve what I want to do.

By breaking it down, you’ll feel a lot more relaxed and you’ll be able to move in the morning and concentrate on that little thing that would make a big difference.

Many years ago I heard a quote that said that life isn’t wasted in days or isn’t wasted in weeks or months or years; instead, life is wasted in the smallest moments of our lives which are the seconds that make these moments.

Another quote I heard goes something like, you cannot change your life in a second, however, it takes only one second to make a decision to change your life.

My question to you; can you take a second right now to break your sales goals and process down?

Break it down no matter how big and lofty the goal that you have set yourself and you’ll see the results start tumbling or coming to you.

So until next time sell more, sell faster and profitably.

How to Stop Procrastinating in Sales  – Part 1

Have you ever felt stuck before or procrastinated on taking action with the things that you know you should have done?

Now, how about if I asked you if you can remember a time when you were completely on fire, an unstoppable force, completing activity after activity?

Well, I’m sure you can remember instances for both times – but the question is, what made the  difference between these two scenarios?

This is Sales Professor Ramez Helou, founder and keynote speaker at the Academy for Sales Excellence.

I speak at events and conferences to inspire, educate and motivate selling professionals to sell more, sell faster and sell profitably.

Today I’m going to share how to stop procrastinating in sales.

Here’s a story for you; many years ago I was with my children at home and I usually would read them a bedtime story.

I was with my youngest son, Alex.

At the time, he was maybe four or five years old and my other son, Chris, shouts out to me asking if I could come and help him quickly.

So, I go to see Chris and leave Alex telling him that I’ll be right back.

Soon after, I realize that 15 minutes have passed and I remember that I have to go back to Alex. 

I ran back to his room to see Alex in his bed with his bedtime book open, and to my surprise, he was actually reading the book by himself.

I said, Alex, what are you doing? I was going to read you the book.

Alex responded by saying, Papa, I really wanted to know how the story ends.

Now, Alex at the time was maybe four or five years old, so he didn’t really know how to read perfectly.

It had a few pictures that he could figure out and he was trying to decipher what the various words were.

It was an amazing sight to see as Alex really fought to figure out what the words in the book meant because he really wanted to know how the story would end.

So, my question to you is this; do you want to know how your story will end?

Do you have a big enough reason driving your actions today?

Because, the number one thing that you have got to have in order to overcome procrastination is knowing that there is a big enough why.

There’s a saying that goes if you have a big enough why, that you’ll overcome any obstacle – this is how to stop procrastinating in sales.

And, just like Alex who overcame his inability to read perfectly, his curiosity to determine the end of his story motivated his actions to read the book by himself.

Going for a certain incentive or going for a certain prize, or buying my first car, or my first apartment.

I remember times when I was completely unstoppable.

Now, let’s say you’ve determined your why, and you’re now in a similar unstoppable state.

What happens when you achieve your goal?

Sometimes, I would achieve my goals and feel satisfied.

But this satisfaction stopped me from being as passionate and as on fire as I previously was when I was still trying to pursue my goal.

Therefore, the most difficult thing or the most dangerous thing is to actually achieve a certain goal in life and not to have your eyes focused on the next goal that you’re going after.

That’s it.

One of the famous keynote speakers and legends in the personal development realm is a gentleman called Jim Rohn.

At one of his speeches, he talked about the two pains in life.

One is the pain of discipline and the other is the pain of regret.

Discipline of course only weighs ounces, while regret weighs a ton, and that’s when you realize you wake up at the very end of your life where you simply didn’t have a big enough why.

So, before you continue your day, take a little time to figure out your why and try to keep refining it over time; always move the goal post as you get closer to your goals.

Would you like professional help to determine your personal why and learn how to stop procrastinating in sales? 

If yes, learn more about our Certified Sales Training Program called Systematic Selling Strategies or request a complimentary sales consultation by clicking here