Do you often find yourself procrastinating or pushing off your prospecting activities? Well, here’s a simple SALES-HACK that might just get you craving those calls…and dropping a few pounds too!
One of the most important activities for any salesperson is PROSPECTING! If not done on a consistent basic or put off for too long of a period of time…the pipeline of opportunities goes COMPLETELY DRY!
Years ago, I found myself consistently pushing off my prospecting and knew that I had to desperately change this habit because my sales numbers were suffering. I was reading Brian Tracy’s newly released book “Eat That Frog” (which was about doing the difficult daunting task first…like Prospecting!) and decided to put a little extra spin on the game!
I had made a decision that I would begin each day with a commitment on my prospecting goals, and not eat anything until that goal was met. NO BREAKFAST! NO WAFFLES! NO EGGS!…NOTHING! Okay, I bent the rules just a bit…I could have straight black coffee (no sugar), water, or a multi-vitamin…but ABSOLUTELY NO FOOD until I completed my prospecting!
If my goal was to make 20 calls, I made sure to complete at least 20 (or a few more) before I would eat anything! Even if it was after 2pm and I was starving, nothing to eat until I completed my goal! On the days that I was out of the office cold calling face to face, I would start as early as possible to complete my number of planned visits before stopping for a lunch break…or dinner 😊 (I also had a very large territory…with some of those days starting at 4:30am with a long drive to my first call, working up until 2pm before my first bite…yikes!)
Today they call it “Intermittent Fasting”…however, for me it was the perfect hack to forcefully discipline myself into a new habit! And I drop a few unwanted pounds too!
EATING IS A BIOLOGICAL HABIT. It’s something we just do. We are conditioned to typically have three meals a day (and perhaps some snacking in between 😊). When we play the game of depriving ourselves from this normal bodily function and urge, until we have satisfactorily completed a desired goal…we build a new level of discipline that becomes ingrained over time. For me, it changed EVERYTHING! My Sales began “Sky Rocketing!” The “NO FOOD” until my prospecting was done, was the kick in the pants that I needed! I had formed a new habit, and my pipeline was FULL AGAIN (and remained full due to my consistent effort of prospecting).
So…are you slacking on your prospecting activity? Do find yourself making excuses or doing other less important tasks? Perhaps it’s time to try the “NO EAT, UNTIL I FINISH MY PROSPECTING” Challenge! Keep it going for at least 21 days (or more)…and you will most certainly find a huge increase in new sales opportunities!
happy selling!
-Ron
