In the twenty-one years of advising CEOs, company presidents and business owners I’ve heard countless times about how the sales team was just sitting in the office getting “all their ducks in a row” before going out and actually selling.  By staying in the office, the salesforce wasn’t out prospecting, they weren’t out cold calling and they certainly weren’t selling.  Instead they were just sitting around all day drinking coffee, making plans, researching and preparing materials as well as wasting a lot of valuable company sales time.

Sometimes sales people spend far too much time concentrating on getting all their “ducks in row”.  Perfection isn’t necessary but the desire to go out, sell and find that new customer or contract is vital for sales success.

If sales people are responsible at your company to make cold calls then they need to be on the phone.  It should be scheduled into their day.  If their responsibility is to sell they need to be selling.  Again, having specific time scheduled just for selling.  The paperwork can wait.  It’s important but it shouldn’t be done during prime selling time.  It’s finding and keeping the customer that counts.  Especially in this economy.

Planning is important.  But any sales person who wants to spend more time in the office writing plans, catching up on paperwork, getting organized and otherwise just wasting time rather than selling will never give you the results you need to have a profitable business.  Don’t accept excuses.  Don’t let sales people sell you on their lack of sales productivity.  Bottom line: the sales numbers tell the real story. 

Salespeople sell.  Period. 

No excuses.

If your salespeople are selling you and giving you excuses about why they are not being productive instead of selling to your customer base, you’ve got a problem. 

Solve the problem.  Don’t let it continue. 

Getting all your ducks in a row won’t necessarily bring you sales success.