I started my business on the 11th September 2019. The first day is about sorting out the administrative stuff such as USER ID and log in password for various insurance companies. This morning I started the training for new financial advisers, we need to start an activity based selling process called SalesBuilder. In this article, I will look into activity based selling and how it helps to build a successful sales career.
I believe an activity based selling can help to change my mindset and put in the right process for me to start selling. In the past while I was working in the oil and gas industry, I have been selling but without a sales process which does not help me to monitor my time and resources.
Selling is based on needs based, if you address someone’s needs by providing value, your customer will exchange this with money. Selling involves prospecting till the closing of the deal. Majority of sales persons will focus on the result based outcome which is to close the deal. However, activity based selling will encourage you to focus on the sales process.
Activity based selling will get you better results by helping you focus on the actions taken, repeating the process and not be too concerned with the results. Focus on doing and make your mind tune in with your subconsciousness level, let it becomes a routine and creates a habit. Results will come from the repetition of activities.
In activity based selling, you are in the driver seat. You own your time and schedule. You are productive because you are in control. In results based selling, you are seen as anxious to close deal without understanding the customers’ needs. When you are on the phone or meeting in person, they can feel your desperation for money. As a result, the trust level will be lowered.
Activity based selling helps you to utilize your time wisely and determine which area you may not be spending enough effort on. The following are some key performance indicators to measure your process:
1. Number of leads
2. Deal size – for my business will be probably premium per year
3. Conversion rate – number of meeting vs number of closed case
4. Sales velocity – time for a deal to go through pipeline.
What gets measured gets managed.
How to build your Activity Based Selling plan?
Step 1 – Set your goal
Set the goal at the start, remember this is a marathon and works towards your goal.
Step 2 – What is your “Why”?
There must a “Why” behind your goal and what drives you?
Step 3 – You map to success
Observe any past sales process when you are successful and what did you do correctly and when did you fail?
Step 4 – Calculate action metrics
How many prospects you need to meet every week?
How many proposals you need to send?
How many follow up calls and meetings?
How many prospects you need to have at each stage?
Step 5 – Set weekly action metrics
Write down your metrics, put them in front of you. There needs to be adjustment along the way, if you do less in the morning, you need to do more in the afternoon.
Step 6 – Review
Look back at the end of each week to monitor your personal metrics, celebrate the ones you achieve success on and work on those you fall short.
How this applies to me?
For my business, activity is king. Fail to achieve the number of activities will result in failure. I will start to create my activity based selling plan which is reasonable to my present ability.
Below is preliminary to be refined later on:
Prospecting
Calls – 20 per week
Referral lead – 2 per week
Customer base – Not Applicable for now
Meeting
Meeting – 10 per week
Seen – 5 per week
Full Fact Finding
FF – 2 per week
Closure
Closure interview – 1 per week
Time spent on business
Time and effort – 50 hours per week
It is time to help my friends and friends-to-be to plan for their retirement!
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