In grammar, there are nouns and verbs. A noun is a part of speech that is used to name a person, place, thing, quality, or action. A verb is a doing word.
My reason for pointing out the difference is that in modern speech words can switch functions. Some nouns have morphed into verbs, for example, we Google things on the Internet. The noun Google is now also something that we do, a verb.
Most of the time this is innocent enough, but in the case of the verb, “work”, the real meaning of the word can become lost in the transition from verb to noun.
We DO work. We do not GO TO work. Yet this is how many people use the word, “work”, and it is this lack of thought about the true meaning of the word that causes problems.
“Bye, Darling, I’m off to work” people say. What they should say is, “Bye, Darling, I’m off to the office” and, when they arrive, they should do some work. But many of them don’t work.
Many salespeople think that because they are dressed up and at the office, they are working. Being well dressed and in an office does not necessarily mean that you are working.
If a salesperson is not speaking with clients, or potential clients, either face-to-face or via the telephone, there is a fair possibility that the salesperson is not doing anything that leads to results. It might be work, but more likely it is self-delusion, thinking that work is being done.
Salespeople are paid for results, not for hours worked, or for being at the office.
So let’s put the emphasis back onto doing work.
One simple adjustment to your day could rocket you to success
Statistics I’ve read over the years almost unanimously agree that most salespeople do not begin results-producing work until around 11 o’clock each day. They might arrive at the office at 9AM, but do not get to work until eleven.
Imagine how much better your business life, and your income, would be if you readjusted your day.
9AM – 1PM: New business search
Use this time for nothing else but looking for new business. Four hours a day (which includes those two ‘lost’ hours wasted by so many salespeople) spent doing nothing else but speaking with potential clients.
A radical thought, I know, but what this simple daily routine does is put the emphasis on finding new business, which is something that gets pushed to the back of the priority queue when salespeople become busy… on the wrong activities.
Agents are complaining of a shortage of listings. They say that whatever they list, they sell. “If only we could get more listings” they say.
I say, “If only you allocated more time to finding more listings“.
This is the solution to the shortage of listings problem, but few make prospecting a priority, preferring instead to whinge about the lack of listings.
1PM and for the rest of the day
You attend appointments and carried out all of your other sales duties.
Back to the real meaning of ‘WORK”
Success is a combination of attitude, knowledge, skill and ACTION. The missing ingredient for many salespeople is action. No, let me rephrase that: the missing ingredient for many salespeople is large amounts of the right actions.
Try it. Don’t go to work – DO WORK.
The right kind of work. Work that brings results.