Myth #18: Work Smarter, Not Harder

Tery Larrew is one of my mentors. When he was a turn-around CEO for high tech companies, he led people in a way that produced remarkable results. As a principle in Caddis Capital, a high-performing private equity firm (www.caddiscapital.com), he continues his pattern of success even in a down economy. We linked up recently - as usual, I needed advice - and he reiterated what he had told me last year.

"Last fall," he said, "I told the team that we would have to work twice as hard just to maintain what we did in 2008."

He and his team are already some of the smartest people in their industry - hence their success. Now he was saying that hard work would need to accompany their "smarts".

In a strong market when there is plenty of opportunity, working smarter makes sense:

If you've gone through my materials you now that I believe in balance, that too many salespeople neglect their families and their health for the sake of success. My ideas on that have not wavered. However, we must learn to work harder - so here are some ideas for you to consider:

More Time - Spend more time planning, selling and following up. Look at your Time

typical twenty-four hour day and find those time slots that you can use without compromise. For instance, if you have a family at home, consider rising an hour earlier to plan your day. This might mean going to bed earlier and missing the Letterman Show but the trade-off will be higher production.

More Calls - Revisit what you have learned about territory management. Less windshield time means more calls. While you are in an area, who are the other accounts you could be calling on? Use your extra planning time (see above) to identify opportunities that are close to your scheduled calls. Can you replace face-to-face with some other calls and increase your productivity? Consider using your extra planning time to develop e-presentations.

Better Calls - Whatever you are putting into your calls now, add more! If a call involves leaving behind a generic brochure, consider adding a personal note and clipping it to the brochure or highlighting specific sections of the brochure. It's more work for you and it increases your likelihood of success. If you are making an important call, video tape yourself doing a dry run before going out on the call. Watch the video. (I recommend the Flip camera www.theflip.com .) You will make changes in your presentation, trust me. I do when I go through this exercise. It's harder work and the customer/prospect is exposed to a more compelling presentation.

Hey, when the recession is over and the recovery is in full swing, maybe we will have more opportunities than we can manage. Maybe there will be enough low-hanging fruit that we can simply work smarter and not harder. Of course, if we do, we will lose sales to those who maintain the "harder and smarter" philosophy.

Welcome to the New Normal in sales.