I had to travel to Las Vegas recently for a speaking engagement. As my driver dropped me off at the airport, he asked when I’d be coming home so he could arrange to pick me up. I told him I’d be arriving the following day before noon. He then suggested, “Why don’t you enjoy yourself and spend an extra night and come back the next morning?” I replied, “Rather than wasting time in Vegas and making them richer, I’ll come home and get back to work and maybe make myself richer. Who knows? Maybe by being home and being in the office I’ll close the biggest deal of my life.” “Ahh,” he said, “that’s why you’re where you are and I’m driving you.” Exactly! And that’s how you will get where you want to go—by maximizing every minute of every day. Anyone can be where they are now. The question is, can you get to the next place? Only by using time wisely.
USE EVERY MOMENT TO SELL
When I’d been selling for a couple of years, a man named Ray took me under his wing because he saw some promise in me. He pulled me aside one day and asked, “Grant, why do you go to lunch with your fellow salesperson Gene so often?” I was perplexed by the question because it seemed perfectly natural that I’d go to lunch with my friend and coworker. When I wasn’t able to answer, Ray looked at me and said, “Grant, Gene will never buy anything from you. Never!”
Wow! What he said fell on me like a truckload of gold bricks, and it really got me to confront how much time, energy, and money I’d wasted by going to lunch with Gene. As I thought about it, I realized I’d been wasting one hour every day, six times a week, for 52 weeks of the year. I’d spent 312 hours of my time with no opportunity whatsoever at making a sale! I never went to lunch with Gene again after that, and my sales began to pick up. I made it a firm policy that if I wasn’t eating with clients or potential clients, I’d eat lunch in my office while I called clients.
HOW MUCH TIME ARE YOU WASTING?
Starting today, I want you to take a look at how much time you waste in a day. Every time you find yourself doing something that is not productive, make note of it. Smoking, taking coffee breaks, standing in line, calling friends or family, gossiping, standing around the water cooler, discussing the game, going to bars, doodling, daydreaming, avoiding work, etc. Write it down and become aware of all the things you’re doing that don’t add up to moving your team and your company down the field. What if you had only one hour to win the game? You can’t take breaks when you’ve got to work the ball down the field. You have only three one-minute time-outs and you’re on the clock. When the buzzer rings, the game is over!
He who makes the most of his time will accomplish the most. Make the decision now that you’re controlling time—and time is no longer controlling you. Change your mind about time and decide that you have plenty of it. Become a master of the clock, not a slave to it.
THE LUNCH OPPORTUNITY
A partner and I were at a lunch meeting with a group of potential clients. The group seated my partner and me together, so I requested that we be seated at different tables. Why? Because I can’t sell my partner and there is no opportunity in sitting next to him! The goal was to be with as many of these clients as possible, not to be with each other. I sat at one table and he sat at another, thus doubling our exposure.
I learned this valuable lesson back when I was a salesperson wasting lunches with my coworker Gene. Today I won’t go to lunch with a fellow salesperson, a manager, or even the boss. I need to spend time with customers. Going to lunch with your boss will not get you job security, but selling more products will. My rule is if they work with me, they won’t buy from me, and so that excludes them from spending lunch with me. You need to work your sales career the way a politician works his campaign. He doesn’t keep talking to the people who are already going to vote for him. He goes and talks to the people who haven’t yet decided who to vote for.
Today I invest breakfast, lunchtime, and dinner with buyers, prospects, and even long shots. These lunch dates would include anyone who might someday buy from me. Even when I’m not taking a customer to lunch, I’ll frequent places where I’ve got a shot at being seen, where lots of people go, or where I might just luck out and run into someone who will buy from me.
People who go out for lunch are typically qualified buyers. They’re working: Bankers, insurance people, salespeople, entrepreneurs, etc. These are the buyers of your products. Go out and be with them, be seen by them, and get to know them. Find a restaurant where qualified people go to eat and show up there every day until you get to know the scene. Visit that one place and become known there before moving on to other locations. Get to know the owner and the waitresses until they know you by your first name. Then you’ll get to know the patrons. Go to the places where potential customers congregate at lunch and be seen by them. Personally, I like to go to the pricier restaurants because they attract the better-quality customers. Aristotle Onassis, the great shipping magnate, always made a point of going to the most expensive restaurants throughout his travels when he was a young man. Not because he could afford it, but because the people there had money, and he wanted to be around opportunity and success.