You might have heard someone say the key to sales success is to work smarter, not harder. One way to work smarter is to be an organized salesperson. Here is how you can be more organized.
Organize your travel.
Certainly you plan your travel in advance so you maximize the customer time you have in each city. Travel today is more of a hassle than ever. One way to make it simpler is to have certain items packed and ready to go. Of course, that means toiletries are already packed because you have a duplicate set just for travel. Just be sure to replenish them when you get home again.
A packing list is essential so you avoid leaving a power cord at home and need to get an Amazon delivery when you arrive. If you don’t want to duplicate your electronics for travel, a packing list is essential. Add to your list when you notice something would make your travel easier.
Ear plugs are essential for noisy airports and hotel rooms. I first realized the value of good ear plugs when I stayed in a totally booked hotel in a small city. My room wasn’t 30 feet from the road and the constant stream of 16 wheeler truck traffic all night long kept me up all night. I shudder when I think about that experience.
An organized salesperson keeps sales materials in the car so to avoid having to mail something later. Or email your customer during the sales call to save yourself the work when you return to your office.
Organize your sales process.
An organized salesperson works with templates for correspondence to make selling easier. You aren’t starting from scratch each time you need to create a document. Your templates should match different parts of your sales process. Consider the emails you send after a first sales call. You identify what was discussed, the customer need and why you should be working together or at least next steps.
The benefit of summarizing what was discussed is it’s another touch point for your customer and it reminds him of what you will do and what he promised to do. Consider templates for later stage sales calls as well.
Reports should have parts that can be customized, but the basic format should be a template that makes it easy for you to write the report.
Organize your office.
Here’s how you know your office is organized. You need something for business and you get it or find it the first place you look. Whether it’s a file on line or a piece of information you need about a customer, it doesn’t cause you to go on a hunting expedition to find what you need.
You are not an organized sales person when you find yourself saying too many times, “Now where did I put that…” You need a better filing system if you have to click through too many files to open the one you want. You could use the search function to find files directly, but that means you must know the search words to use. Learn to use more of your software applications so you can truly take advantage of their power to organize your work.
Is your desk a mess? Visual clutter is a sign you are disorganized. Your desk is for items you use daily. Other items you use less frequently must go somewhere else, preferably out of sight.
Sales is the perfect job to value working smarter. After all, what counts are the sales you make, not how hard you worked. So work smarter in sales and I predict you actually will make more sales because a less stressed salesperson is more confident and more effective. That smart salesperson could be you.