ed strategy, not just a self-contained action)
Casual drop ins (unless they’re existing clients, and have been scheduled, not just to fall back on because prospecting is seen as the tougher option)
Giving gifts/corporate souvenirs to people before they even become clients (it’s like a tacky bribe!)
Doing deals onSo very few small businesses collect and use statistical data about the effectiveness of activities relating to the sales process, and as a result many business owners and sales managers are insisting that their staff undertake activities that are wasting time, and robbing both the company and the sales staff of income.

Case Study – Real Estate Agency

A well-known agency insisted that its sales staff spend an hour a day door knocking their neighbourhood, introducing themselves to home owners who might be potential sellers. At the same time it did not insist that telephone contact was undertaken, and nor was there any strategic approach to telemarketing.

Statistical collection and analysis showed that the door knocking was not an effective use of the sales team’s time, and that more coverage, with better outcomes, could be obtained by having a strategic in-house telemarketing program that developed strong loyalty and public profile.

Other Time Wasters

Here is a brief list of other activities that are too inefficient for the sales person to spend time on and/or actually prevent sales staff from engaging in sales activities:

Hanging around shopping centres handing out pamphlets
Letterbox dropping
Sponsorships (unless they are a well-planned strategy, not just a self-contained action)
Casual drop ins (unless they’re existing clients, and have been scheduled, not just to fall back on because prospecting is seen as the tougher option)
Giving gifts/corporate souvenirs to people before they even become clients (it’s like a tacky bribe!)
Doing deals on

b>Case Study – Real Estate Agency

A well-known agency insisted that its sales staff spend an hour a day door knocking their neighbourhood, introducing themselves to home owners who might be potential sellers. At the same time it did not insist that telephone contact was undertaken, and nor was there any strategic approach to telemarketing.

Statistical collection and analysis showed that the door knocking was not an effective use of the sales team’s time, and that more coverage, with better outcomes, could be obtained by having a strategic in-house telemarketing program that developed strong loyalty and public profile.

Other Time Wasters

Here is a brief list of other activities that are too inefficient for the sales person to spend time on and/or actually prevent sales staff from engaging in sales activities:

Hanging around shopping centres handing out pamphlets
Letterbox dropping
Sponsorships (unless they are a well-planned strategy, not just a self-contained action)
Casual drop ins (unless they’re existing clients, and have been scheduled, not just to fall back on because prospecting is seen as the tougher option)
Giving gifts/corporate souvenirs to people before they even become clients (it’s like a tacky bribe!)
Doing deals on

roach to telemarketing.

Statistical collection and analysis showed that the door knocking was not an effective use of the sales team’s time, and that more coverage, with better outcomes, could be obtained by having a strategic in-house telemarketing program that developed strong loyalty and public profile.

Other Time Wasters

Here is a brief list of other activities that are too inefficient for the sales person to spend time on and/or actually prevent sales staff from engaging in sales activities:

Hanging around shopping centres handing out pamphlets
Letterbox dropping
Sponsorships (unless they are a well-planned strategy, not just a self-contained action)
Casual drop ins (unless they’re existing clients, and have been scheduled, not just to fall back on because prospecting is seen as the tougher option)
Giving gifts/corporate souvenirs to people before they even become clients (it’s like a tacky bribe!)
Doing deals on

Time Wasters

Here is a brief list of other activities that are too inefficient for the sales person to spend time on and/or actually prevent sales staff from engaging in sales activities:

Hanging around shopping centres handing out pamphlets
Letterbox dropping
Sponsorships (unless they are a well-planned strategy, not just a self-contained action)
Casual drop ins (unless they’re existing clients, and have been scheduled, not just to fall back on because prospecting is seen as the tougher option)
Giving gifts/corporate souvenirs to people before they even become clients (it’s like a tacky bribe!)
Doing deals on

ed strategy, not just a self-contained action)
Casual drop ins (unless they’re existing clients, and have been scheduled, not just to fall back on because prospecting is seen as the tougher option)
Giving gifts/corporate souvenirs to people before they even become clients (it’s like a tacky bribe!)
Doing deals on the basis of a verbal agreement – no paperwork, doh!
Not having a proven schedule of activities, not diarising, documenting, tracking or analysing these activities
Being unaccountable
Allowing proven selling activities to be shoved aside (eg, not turning up to a networking event because a client called – unless that client is leaving the country, this one is plain dumb because you are killing the goose that laid the golden egg!)
Turning office time into a social exercise

How to Assess Activities So You Choose the Most Effective

There’s only one way, and that’s to know your stats. Have a written plan of your sales activities, schedule them on a very strict basis, track their results, and analyse results regularly. If an activity cannot justify its existence or compete against better-performing activities, drop it like a hot cake!

If you set this up on a well-formulated spreadsheet it will spit out the meaningful statistics automatically, on a daily basis. Very few companies do this, and that’s why so very few companies actually survive. No-one would argue against the fact that it would be stupid to try to run a company without keeping financial records – and yet the majority of SME’s run their sales team without keeping adequate activity record