50 Habits of Top Performing Sales People: Habit #3 – The 90 Day Calendar

September 19, 2014 Selling Comments Off on 50 Habits of Top Performing Sales People: Habit #3 – The 90 Day Calendar

Continuing with the twelve Organizational Skills let’s look at Habit #3 – The 90 Day Calendar:

Plan a business and travel calendar 90 days in advance.

Habit 3 takes time management to another level by taking the focus on time from Habits 1 and 2  and using it to plan the salespersons business and travel calendar 90 days into the future.  The goal is to provide focus to the salespersons schedule so they are doing the right thing at the right time to maximize their sales effort.

Creating a 90 Day Calendar is one of the main things we do when we start working with a new salesperson.  It is common at the beginning to hear all the excuses that prevent planning this far out with the most common one being “no one can plan 90 days out”.  This is not true and salespeople trained by Strategen have 90 Day Calendars.  In fact, it is common that once a salesperson experiences the benefit of a 90 Day Calendar they will not live without one.  A 90 Day Calendar created and used correctly provides the benefit of keeping the salesperson focused on the “Target Prospects/Customers”.  This will lead to an increase in sales.

It is common for salespeople to only plan one or two weeks out and justify this because they believe customers do not know what they need far enough ahead to plan any other way.  At Strategen, we know this is not true.  If the sales effort is focused on the “Targeted Prospects/Customers” that need to be seen based on the goals established in the Strategic Plan, than time can be scheduled  to make the strategic sales calls leaving room for follow-up and closing.  Define the targets, schedule the sales calls in the 90 Day Calendar based on face-to-face meetings at least four times per year and work the plan.

Start by braking the business and travel 90 Day Calendar into three 30 day time periods.  The first 30 days (days 1-30) are frozen with changes made only in extreme cases.  The second 30 days (days 31-60) are firm with changes minimized.  The last 30 days (days 61-90) are a bit more fluid and changes are easier to deal with.  Each week a new week moves into the next planning time frame keeping the schedule fluid and up to date.  This is not to say that the 90 Day Calendar will not need adjustments but with the plan established, days can be moved to facilitate emergencies and changes that occur.  The key is not to lose track of calls that should have been made so business does not fall through the cracks.

“A Habit” is not work but just a thing that is done every day and a 90 Day Calendar can easily become a Habit.  Start developing the 90 Day Calendar, focusing on “Target Prospects/Customer” to ensure that sales calls are made, per plan, to establish relationships and penetrate “Targeted Prospects/Customers”.  Regardless of their experience level, all salespeople need to plan and schedule and will benefit from a 90 Day Calendar.

TIME MANAGEMENT.  For Top Performers every task is planned and focused on the goals that earn the results.  Top performers plan time to develop and manage their calendars to focus their efforts and maximize the utilization of their time with and on their customers.  Top Performers plan and then engage.  They act on their plans, they work hard and they get results.

Coaching these skills is a critical part of what we do.  We are here to help you develop and implement your Strategic Plan and coach and develop the skills to implement the plan successfully.

We are having great success coaching and implementing these methods and skills and our clients love it!