Well, I know this may sound almost insanely easy, but you stop WASTING time. That may sound easy, but many sales people still waste a ton of time calling on people who have absolutely NO current business for them and while in front of the client they focus on product, not immediate needs of the client.

A typical sales person spends about 93% of the time in front of clients in “non-sales” activities such as answering objections, giving unqualified quotations (you know being quote machines, as they’re called), calling on clients and doing a product dump (showing product they cannot use now, if ever). This is what wastes a ton of time.

In my former sales life, I was asked to do the 4×5 method. 4 calls 5 days a week or 5 calls 4 days. Being the good soldier, I did that to appease my boss and do what she wanted me to do. I would do anything to get an appointment with just about anyone who even blinked at design work. People, who I fully knew, could have NO business for what I was selling. But I did what I was expected to do.

Most sales managers continue to want you to go on between 10 and 15 calls/week if not more. If none of these calls produce any immediate sales and they have no current business for your product, why are you there?. When you do that what you’re really doing is leaving your future up to chance. Is that a strong strategy? Maybe when we were the only game in town. But that is nowhere near what works today with the mega-choice world out there.

But how do we change? How do we increase our sales? And how do we do it in less time?

With my new strategy is called GUSTO.

  • G= Greeting (5%)
  • U= Uncover Needs (Qualifying) (40%)
  • S = Solve Needs (with your product) (20%)
  • T= Take order (10%)
  • O= Optimize Sale (Upsell while you’re in front of client) (25%)

With this model, you are spending 95% of your time SELLING! Yes, you’re saving 93% of your current time you spend in NON-SALES activities and putting that time into SELLING! That’s exactly how you sell more in less time.

Now, in order to do that, you have to keep two rules of sales always in mind (this is a change in mindset):

  1. You have to be in the DRIVER’S seat the majority of the time (driving sales)
  2. You have to constantly and consistently FIND sales (not relying on the same, usual suspects if they do not have current needs for your product)

If you do anything for a client without questioning, how does that guarantee or drive a sale? This means, you are just doing exactly what the client wants you to do and puts THEM in the driver’s seat. The only way you will get closer to a sale is by asking questions. Qualifying. The more time you spend qualifying, the less time you will spend on answering questions and objections (which qualifying will almost alleviate) and giving, what turns out to be, meaningless quotations, following up on those hoping they will turn into a sale. Pheww! But how can they object to and not purchase something that, by qualifying, you found out exactly what they are looking for?

So I am asking you to embrace this new way of selling. And if you want to learn how to do that easily, take my e-course Powering Up Your Sales NOW! Here’s a link that explains it.

Feel free to comment below!