Know Your Numbers

In Fanatical Prospecting Jeb Blount described a sales team that didn’t make their numbers. This was not just any sales team.  This was a sales team that blew past their revenue targets in one quarter, and then in the next, they barely retired their quota. What happened?

Blount was hired to observe the patterns of sales teams. He found that high performing sales teams not only knew their numbers but also filled their pipeline faster than their closing rate. To do this, they were consistently looking for and creating qualified new deals.

What does filling a sales pipeline have to do with time management?

Everything.

High performing sales teams prioritize how they spend their time.  

All of the time.

High performing sales teams know their revenue numbers, how many calls they must make in a specified period of time, and more.  Blount calls them “the elite athletes of business” and similar to elite athletes they track everything and know their stats.

How often do you, or someone you know, complain about how hard they are working, how tired they are, or that there are not enough hours in a day to accomplish all that needs to get done?

Know your numbers.

How much time do you waste reading emails that are not important?

How often do you look at your mobile phone during the day in the middle of a conversation?

How often do you redo the work of team members or subordinates?

How much time do you spend in weekly meetings that are not useful to the task at hand?

How much time do you spend weekly thinking strategically?

How much time do you spend delivering on your strategic plan?

Know your numbers.

Then decide what you want to do next to accomplish your goals.

When we meet, I will ask you how you spend your time.

This will be the beginning of a great conversation.