If Time Is Money, Then Where’s Your Routine?
Dec 6, 2005 All About Selling, Clients are fun. Case Studies in Sales and Leaders..., Experiences in Marketing, Insights in Business, Leadership Academy, Live Responsibly: Life Tips, Great Living, Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking
My wife and I were finalizing the kitchen design in our new home, when my phone rang. “Keith Rosen?” A strong, resonating voice on the other end of the phone asked.
“Who’s calling?” I responded.
“Joe Connolly withThe Wall Street Journal and WCBS Radio,” he announced. No wonder why he’s on the radio.
“Hi, Joe!” I replied. How can I help you?”
“Keith, I just finished reading an article in the Wall Street Journal about you and your approach to prospecting and cold calling. It seems this article originally ran in Inc. magazine. Is that correct?”
“Yes, Joe, that’s right.”
“Very interesting stuff you’re doing. We’re hosting our next Small Business Breakfast in Connecticut next month and wanted to see if you would be interested in sitting on our panel of experts.”
“Thanks for the invitation, Joe. What are the details?”
“We’d like for you to sit on our panel and answer some questions on the topics of your two books on time management and cold calling. This event would be Wednesday morning, May 18 at the Hyatt Regency in Greenwich, Connecticut. We would need you there at 7:30am. There will be about 600-700 people in attendance, all local professionals as well as our sponsors. One more thing, Keith, would you mind if I asked you a few questions, right now [on the record].”
“Sure. Feel free to ask me anything you’d like.”
After about 20 minutes, we concluded our conversation.
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“Keith, you’d really be a perfect fit for this event. I hope you can make it.”
“Thanks, Joe. It sounds like it would be fun! I hope I can make it as well.” I told Joe that I would confirm with him within the next day whether or not I would be available.
Step one, good news. The date was opened. After confirming my availability with Joe, we discussed some additional details of this event.
Fortunately, I asked my dad if he was available to come along and he joined me for the ride. Like any other successful business event, the venders were set up outside of the ballroom, doing their best to mine for prospects in this qualified crowd of professionals. People were chatting and networking themselves through the crowd, as they made their way to a seat in the ballroom of the Hyatt Regency.
The next time Joe and I spoke was the day of the event. The panelists took their position and Joe began the job of moderating and facilitating. He introduced the panelists. When it came to me, he added, “After speaking with Keith, I knew he was the real deal, especially when I asked him if he could commit to the date. Instead of saying, “Yes” on the spot which, according to Keith can mean you’re a “Yesaholic” he responded with, “Thanks Joe, let me check my schedule and I’ll call you back.” So, not only did he write the book on time management, here’s a guy who practices what he preaches.”
A question came my way. It was on how to best manage your time. “Hi Keith,” the gentleman in the audience began. “What strategies would you suggest to better manage your time?” Given the reason why I was seated on this panel, an appropriate question.
My first response was to say this, “Stop. Stop trying to manage something that you cannot manage in the first place.”
Blank stares. “Let me explain, I continued.”
“But first, let me tee it up with a question I have for all of you.”
“How many of you are familiar with the expression, time is money?”
About everyone raise their hand.
I then asked, “By a show of hands, how many of you manage your money in some way? Whether you use a stock broker, financial advisor, accountant, bank or just do it yourself, raise your hand if you manage your money ins some way.”
A few seconds later, several hundred people raised their hand; a good 90% of the audience.
Finally the point blank coaching question; “How many of you manage your time as diligently as you manage your money? In other words, raise your hand if you have a consistent, weekly routine that you follow from the time you wake up in the morning up until the time you end your day, [whether that’s when you end your work day or go to sleep] that contains the specific, measurable activities and tasks you engage in that move you closer to your goals, while keeping your life in a happy balance?”
A few seconds later, I thought I might have to repeat the question. Not a hand went up. I’m not surprised. After all, it was my clients who inspired me to write a book on time management in the first place.
In a room filled with highly successful professionals, there wasn’t one person in the room who could confidently raise their hand and say, “Yes! I have that!”
And yet these people are still successful (however you define what “successful” is).
“Is that some irony,” I continued after my question. “Here we are, on the surface believing that time is money, yet when it comes down to it, we’re not managing our time and ourselves the way we manage our money. We don’t give our time the same respect, diligence and planning it deserves the way we do money.”
“And the kicker is, once you invest your time, you don’t get it back. You can’t double it, invest it or save it for a rainy day or slow it down. That’s why it’s important to shift the focus from trying to manage your ‘time’ to managing what you can control, which is yourself and the actions you take each day. You can control where you invest your time, rather than other people or situations doing it for you. That’s why the foundation to living your potential is to first upgrade your relationship with time so that time becomes your ally not your adversary or something you try to beat out each day. Then you can begin the process of developing a routine.”
The universal law certainly applies; we resist what we need to learn the most.
Don’t Blame The Game, Blame The Player(’s approach)
Dec 2, 2005 All About Selling, Clients are fun. Case Studies in Sales and Leaders..., Experiences in Marketing, Insights in Business, Live Responsibly: Life Tips, Great Living, Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking
“Cold calling doesn’t work in our business.”
“I’m not good at cold calling.”
“I’ve tried it and it didn’t work for me.”
“I had a horrible experience cold calling.”
“I hate when telemarketers call me.”
Whatever the reason, whatever the story, it’s a common belief amongst business owners and salespeople that prospecting; more specifically, cold calling is not the first thing people happily jump to do when starting their day.
When I interview clients who want to hire me as their sales coach to assist them in developing or refining their prospecting and cold calling strategy to generate more prospects, I ask them to ‘pitch’ me on the spot. Here’s how the conversation typically flows.
“Right now?” they reply surprisingly.
“Sure,” I say. “After all, you have a choice. You can either practice on me or practice on your prospects.”
“Well, okay. But I never really liked to role play.” (A salesperson who doesn’t like to role play? I’m shocked…)
A few minutes later, they give me their cold calling ‘pitch’, a few examples of the types of voice mails they leave and what it sounds like when they introduce themselves at a networking event.
“So, what do you think, Keith?”
“I think I have great news for you.” I reply confidently.
“The good news is, we’re going to change your approach around. We’re going to fine tune some of the things you’re doing and develop more compelling language in your opening statement, which will eliminate the initial objections you’re hearing and get you in front of more qualified prospects faster. Here’s where we create some new possibilities for you. So if you’re ready, I’d be happy to share with you in more detail what I’m hearing and some areas I see that we can work on. Ready?”
“Sure.”
“Great. Now, you said earlier that you feel as if cold calling doesn’t work for you.”
“Yes, that’s right. It doesn’t seem to be effective in my business. I’m certainly not getting any results or should I say, I’m not getting the results I used to get.”
“Oh, so there was a time when you did generate some results from cold calling?”
“Oh, yes.”
“So, what’s changed?”
“I’m not sure. That’s why I’m calling you.”
“Have you ever been trained or coached in how to cold call effectively?”
“No.”
“So, how did you learn?”
“I picked up the phone and started dialing. I’ve seen some other people do it, some co-workers, my manager, but that’s it.”
“Did you ever consider that it’s not the cold calling doesn’t work but the way you’re cold calling that doesn’t work? In other words, consider that it’s more about your approach; what you say and how you say it. Let me explain,” I continued.
“For example, if I asked you to go outside and dig a ten foot deep hole with a spoon, do you learn the lesson, “Well, I guess I can’t dig holes very well” or is the real lesson; “If I had the right tools I would have been able to accomplish this goal faster, with less effort.” You see, it’s all about the tools you’re using when cold calling. Even if you handed Tiger Wood, the greatest golfer in the world a pair of lefty clubs, while he still may outperform most golfers he would not be able to operate at his best, at the pinnacle of his potential, simply because he’s using the wrong tools. The same philosophy applies to your career and to cold calling.”
“Wow, Keith, that makes perfect sense. I really never thought of it that way.”
“Well, as you mentioned, that’s the reason why you called me, right?”
“Absolutely!”
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When managers call me looking to see how they can boost their sales numbers by getting in front of more qualified prospects, I ask them if they have ever provided their sales team with any specific training and coaching regarding cold calling and prospecting. Most say “No” yet still expect their sales team to continually produce better results in less time. That’s the same thing as expecting to shoot a 75 your first month as a new golfer without any lessons or coaching.
Ask yourself, are you using the right tools or are you still trying to drive your cold calling process or new business development strategy forward using four square wheels?
In other words, there ain’t no cheese down that tunnel.
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