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Last month I started writing about the 7-Hour Selling Plan, a proven approach to a "selling owner" gaining maximum sales growth in a minimum of hours. As I wrote then, the objective for the first block of selling time—on Tuesday morning of each week—is to identify six "suspects" worth writing to.
Correspondence Day
Wednesday is "Correspondence Day" in the 7-Hour Selling Plan, and your first task is to generate the letters to the six "suspects" you identified the previous day. Your second task is to make your first follow-up phone calls to the people you wrote to the previous week. Your third task is the ongoing follow-up with your entire suspect/prospect list, and as you expand this list, this part of the program usually becomes the most time-consuming. For that reason, let's allocate three hours to this activity, and let's make it from 9:00 AM until Noon. (If you finish earlier, you can take off your "selling hat" early and move on to other things.)
What should your introductory letter say? I recommend a brief description of your capabilities, followed by: "I'll be calling you in the middle of next week to see if we can set up an appointment to discuss your printing needs." The short-term objective of the 7-Hour Selling Plan is to set up a couple of appointments each week, and that takes us to the final two hours allocated to the plan.
Appointment Day
Let's make Thursday "Appointment Day," and your goal will be to set up two (or more) appointments within a two hour block of time. Initially, I recommend that you try to set up one appointment within the 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM block, and another within the 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM block. Both of those blocks include travel time, so the idea is that you'll be able to get to and from two appointments within those two hours.
It will probably be difficult at first to schedule two "suspect" appointments each week, but you can also use these two hours to meet with current customers. As your prospect list grows, you'll find it gets easier and easier to fill this part of your schedule.
Discipline
That takes us to the core success factor…a consistent effort! I've heard all the excuses, but I remain convinced that seven hours of selling time each week is both reasonable and do-able—and that it's enough to generate a pretty significant sales increase.
By the way, I hope you've noted that I recommend putting on your "selling hat" in the morning. That's not because morning is better in terms of reaching your suspects, it's simply because you'll still have the afternoon to catch up if something else truly requires your attention in the morning.
David M. Fellman is the president of David Fellman & Associates, Cary, NC, a sales and marketing consulting firm serving numerous segments of the graphic arts industry. Contact him at 919/363-4068 or visit his website at www.davefellman.com.
author: BY DAVID FELLMAN