Everyone thinks about time. Other than money, most of us are always trying to rethink and rebalance our time commitments. Time to be somewhere, time to pick up the kids, time to work, time left in the month to sell stuff, time to go on vacation. It’s just that we think, we work our sales activities around, and we plan our non-work around the central issue of TIME.
Now that I live part of the year on the beach and am constantly checking to see if the ocean is coming in or out, I was kind of expecting that the phrase, “time and tide wait for no man” was coined by Ben Franklin, my favorite blogger, but that’s not the case. In fact, according to dictionary.com, it’s been around “since the beginning of recorded time”. The fact remains, that time becomes a great equalizer for all of us, and certainly those of us who are out on the pavement, behind the windshields and on the phones trying to move our sales opportunities through the funnel.
To the boys on the bench down at the general store in our little Vermont village of 647, time depends both on the time of day, since the boys are gathered in their pickups waiting each morning outside the store before it opens and, being Vermont, the time of the year. In a locale where there are 11 months of winter, and August is defined as the month of “damn poor sleddin’”, Vermont time is all about the weatha'. Vermont time then comes down to “workin’ time”, “plowin’ time”, fishin’ time”, and, of course, “huntin’ time, which is basically, just all the time.
Here in the good old, “Live Free or Die” state, at least on the coast, time is batted around very differently by “the summer people”, and by “the locals”. Down at the general store, where I have my $6.99 (with tip) breakfast most mornings, the good ol’ boys at the counter include lots of tattooed locals always bragging about just how long a time they’ve been residents of the town. Kind of like bragging rights, but since the counter also includes people like local boys, Scott Brown of the Senator fame, and Dan Brown of Da Vinci Code fame, along with the ex-governor who lives across the street, the various planes of the discussions becomes very, very interesting. It’s all about time.
For me, time is a constant challenge…and an opportunity. I live with constant time checks on my Outlook, iPhone, and iPad constantly shuffling schedules multiple times per day always trying to squeeze things more things into the ten pound bag. With one big exception. No watches, no electronic things while snowboarding or on the beach. I know that I’ve had a relaxing time on any weekend when I look at my mechanical self-winding watch on Monday, and it’s a couple of days out of sync with reality.
So, here we are at the beginning of August. This is it. There’s only one month left before “crazy time” catapults us into the toughest selling time of the year-the four month quarter. Among the Live Free or Die locals, it’s only a month before “see you soon” changes to “see you next summer”. In Vermont, the Boys on the Bench will be ankle deep in leaves 45 days from now swapping lies about the brood of turkeys that they saw out on the ridge or the deer that they’ve been tracking since June.
For those of us on the front lines of Sales, it’s time to walk away. Hang it up. There are not going to be many people around anyhow in August, so we can spend lots of time out there searching, narrowing, qualifying, discovering and maybe closing…with just a few people, or we can come back on September 5th and do the same thing with a lot more people. It’s simply a math thing, and I and you guys need to take a break. It’s time.
Take a week, hopefully two. “Walk away” doesn’t mean that you shouldn't check your emails, just make sure that you do it between 5:00 and 8:00 in the morning and then maybe again between 4:00 and 5:00 just before you pour yourself a long one, put your feet up on the deck and breathe out.
Relax, reprogram, replan, regroup, refocus…and just basically wind it down. Hug the kids, do the same with your spouse. Read some trash books and go for long walks on the beach or in the woods. Download the gigabytes in your head and don’t worry about refreshing the data for a couple of weeks.
It’s the right time, and, ya know, this time is not going to be here tomorrow.
Before you boogie out, if you’re all concerned about how to sell more and optimize your sales team come September, think about attending our Sales Management Boot Camp in early October
5 reasons to attend...
1. Five years of experience
2. 350 graduates
3. Very high satisfaction; lots of testimonials
4. Pre August 15th discounts
5. Free Whiteboarding Session-a $2,000 value
Click HERE for a full agenda, logistics, prices & discounts
Good Relaxing...and have a good TIME!
Jack
Head Coach
