Is Your Time Prioritized?
If you are not doing it, who is?
Greg McKeown has a great quote, “If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.” What does this mean for your sales journey?
Sales is a customer engagement process and every customer is the most important customer, especially if you ask that customer. Which means as the sales person for your product or service you have to be very conscience of your time. Your customers will demand all the time you will allow them to have. No matter the industry if you give an inch you will have customers take a mile. Most of the time this is not done our of malice, it is just that ever customer believes their issue or need is the most urgent. After all they do not know, and probably do not care, what problems other customers have. What does this mean for you?
As the leading sales person and customer you have to prioritize your time, or as Greg says someone else will, in this case meaning your customers. To prioritize your time there are a couple of key topics to cover with your customers, specifically as you onboard them. During the onboarding process set boundaries and expectations.
Set Boundaries:
Are you going to be available 24/7?
Are you going to answer e-mails, texts, or calls?
Knowing the answers to questions like those above are really important before you engage with your customers. That way you can let them know the boundaries that you have established, ensuring they know when you are available and when you are not. You still need family time and time for yourself and time to work on your business not in your business. Setting these boundaries will ensure that you still have those times. It may also help you understand which customers you want to grow and which customers you want to let go. Hint: the customers that constantly push your boundaries are good ones to let go first. These boundaries will protect your team as well. Helping them focus on improving the products, services, and processes that run your business. Setting boundaries at the beginning will be easier that trying to set them down the road and it will make sure your customers know what to expect when they engage with you. Once you have the boundaries established you need to turn your attention to what expectations your customers should have of your product or service.
Set Expectations:
What is your expected response time?
Will others contact your customers on your behave?
Similar to boundaries expectations are key to success and best if set at the beginning of the interaction with customers. Explicitly answering questions like they ones above will ensure your customers know what to expect. Say these things to your customers too. Even if it’s through an e-mail or receipt tell your customer what the next steps are. Tell them how quickly their order will come, or when you will follow-up. This stops your customer from creating a story in their head. As mentioned before each customer assumes they are the most important and that their issue is the largest issue of the day. They may be true for you or you may have a completely different fire to put out. By setting these expectations at the beginning you will stop your customers from telling themselves any stories that could be negative.
Are you going to miss these expectations? It will happen at some point. You will get sick, or have a shipment delayed. It happens to the best of us and we all understand. Be upfront and be forward with your customers. They will give you grace.
So remember:
You have to prioritize your time, to ensure you control your days.
Set boundaries and set expectations.
Overcommunicate with your customers.
At the beginning, in the middle, and through the end of the sales process.
Thank you for your time reading this post. I know time is our most precious resource. If you find any value please pass this along to a friend.