Make every moment count

To really crush it in sales, whether to close out the year on a high note or to consistently perform at your highest level every day, you have to make every moment count.

The following is from Ernest Hemingway's classic book "For Whom The Bell Tolls:"

“Today is only one day in all the days that will ever be. But what will happen in all the other days that ever come can depend on what you do today.”

I like to modify that to say “But what will happen in all other moments that ever come will depend on what you do in this moment.”

What impact will you have in this moment?

What impact will you have in your next sales interaction with your buyer, which will influence all other moments to come?

This is something that I’ve been writing and speaking about since the 2011 publication of my award-winning book "Zero-Time Selling."

Every time you interact with a buyer and whenever you consume some amount of their time, whether it’s with an in-person meeting, video call, phone call or email, you have to provide them with an ROI on that time consumed.

In other words, it’s up to you to sell with Maximum Impact in the Least Time possible. Maximum Impact. Least Time. 

It’s that simple. 

This is an absolutely vital behavior that every sales pro needs to learn and adopt as an inextricable part of their routine. 

Why? Because selling with Maximum Impact in the Least Time is one of the easiest and most defensible ways to truly differentiate yourself from competitors.

It’s most important for field sales people to master this because of the extra travel time involved in every sales call. You truly can’t afford to have an empty, value-less interaction with a buyer if you’re in the field.

Your buyers can’t afford an empty, value-less sales call

Geoffrey Colvin, author of the best-sellers Talent is Overrated and Humans are Underrated, wrote that "Getting information pushes at the two constraints everyone faces: it takes time and costs money. Making sound decisions fast and at a low cost is a competitive advantage everywhere."

This is exactly what your buyers are asking you to do.  Help them quickly gather the information they need to make good decisions with the least investment of their time and money possible.

To make sure that you’re providing your buyers a measurable ROI on the time they invest in you, the outcome of every sales touch you have with a buyer should result in them making progress toward making a decision. 

If the buyer doesn’t receive a return on their time invested in you, they will stop giving you time. Which makes it hard to sell to them.

Plan for Maximum Impact

Your sole objective for every sales interaction you have with your buyers must be to have an impact that helps them make tangible progress toward making a decision. 

This has nothing to do with your sales process and moving from one stage to the next. That’s not how your buyer measures progress in their buying process.

This means you have to plan every sales touch, no matter how large or how small, and the value you’ll deliver, to achieve the desired outcome of helping the buyer move closer to making a decision. 

Otherwise, why would you waste their time? And yours?

Buyers are counting on you

I’ve sat in meetings with analysts and researchers who have talked with thousands of buyers to understand their buying process. What the research is showing is that buying processes within companies are becoming increasingly complex.

What you can’t forget, or underestimate the importance of, is that all of the buying complexity and all of those decision-making processes are built on a foundation of people. 

Humans with emotions. Humans with stresses. Humans that are overwhelmed. Humans that are pressed for time. 

Human buyers that are counting on human sellers like you to help them complete this complex task they’ve been assigned (with the least investment of the time and money possible.)

Are you prepared for every sales interaction with your buyers to have the Maximum Impact in the Least Time?

Learn more about accelerating your sales process in this Podcast with Andy and Badger’s CEO, Steve Benson.

Today’s Implementation

1. Review each individual qualified opportunity in your pipeline.
2. For each opportunity ask these two questions:
   1. What value does the buyer need from me today to make progress in their buying process (or to move closer to making a decision)?
   2. What very next physical step will the buyer commit to take in return for receiving this value?
3. If you can’t answer these questions (or if you’re a manager and your sales reps can’t answer these) then you’re not prepared to provide The Maximum Impact in the Least Time to your buyer(s).
4. You cannot have your next interaction with your buyer until you have that answer. 

Your buyer's time is extremely important, but how you use your time can change the trajectory of your sale too. Learn how sales professionals are taking back their time by driving 25% less and selling 20% more with Badger Maps:

About the Author: Andy Paul is the founder of The Sales House, the first all-in-one modern sales education platform for B2B sellers and sales leaders.

He is #8 on LinkedIn’s list of the Top 50 global sales experts to follow and author of the two Amazon best-selling books ‘Amp Up Your Sales: Powerful Strategies That Move Customers To Make Fast, Favorable Decisions’ and ‘Zero-Time Selling: 10 Essential Steps to Accelerate Every Company’s Sales’.

His top-rated podcast, Accelerate! with more than 670 episodes to-date and nearly 2 million downloads, is the go-to resource for sales leaders and top sales producers.

Prior to starting his own company in 2000, Andy had a successful field sales career during which he closed well over half a billion dollars worth of products and services to companies ranging from small businesses to some of the world’s largest enterprises.