ARE YOU BUSY . . . OR PRODUCTIVE?

Are you busy or are you productive? The question is innocent enough. But can you handle the truth? Recently I was doing some consulting with a client who carefully examined how his sales representatives spent their time. He concluded that they actually spent less than 5 percent of each day engaged in the act of selling! Imagine, 95 percent of each sales day spent on nonselling activities. Writing letters, putting together information packets, filling out paperwork, telephone prospecting, and traveling consumed their days. As you can imagine, my client wanted to grow sales revenues. Some sales trainers attempt to convince prospects that training is the answer for everything. While I encourage the acquisition of knowledge and new skills, I disagree with the blind assumption that training is always a cure for poor sales performance. Let