Four Weddings and a Sales Target By Paul Valentine, Sales Director, PSU IT Voice and Data

Just as Hugh Grant realised he had overslept and had just minutes to dress, the news of a wedding in an expanding sales team is received with a mixture of joy and selfish cogitation. You immediately start to think about the affect this will have to the throughput of business. Three weddings and a fourth planned for Spring 06 requires Norman Schwarzkopf sized planning by all involved.

Pictured above: (1) Simon Stevens (Regional Business Manager) and Amanda; (2) Rachael Partridge (nee Dowding) (Regional Business Manager) and Matt; (3) Paul Valentine (Sales Director) and Lisa; (4) The picture of Nigel Stoddart (Regional Business Manager) and Caroline has been mocked up as their wedding doesn't take place until next Spring.

Since 2003 the PSU sales team has grown from three to ten individually skilled people with expertise in the majority of sectors throughout IT and Telecommunications. Sales support is undertaken by three key people providing those all important functions such as teleappointing, marketing and administration management.

Time management is important in all of our business lives but when there’s the additional pressure from an inbound spouse, performing on the day takes an all together different meaning. Planning well before any big occasion whether it be a wedding or annual holiday is so important, as once the honeymoon period is over earlier efforts should start to bear fruit.

Like many professions life as a sales manager requires constant planning whether this is preparing for meetings with new potential clients or deciding on the next appropriate action to take during the sales process. Each step towards the goal requires an enviable amount of self-discipline ensuring deadlines and objectives are met.

In everyday business there are many reasons why deadlines aren’t met, two of the most common ones are:

• The deadline is unrealistic to start with.
• The person responsible for meeting the deadline spends more time on the task than necessary.

Dealing with unrealistic deadlines

Like myself I’m sure you have fallen into the trap by saying those fateful words ‘Thank you for your valued time Mr Opportunity I’ll make sure I get the proposal to you by tomorrow morning’. Once the words have left your mouth you wish you could suck them back in as this new task will impact on other responsibilities.

The best time to counteract an unrealistic deadline is when it is being set. Setting an unrealistic timescale or leaving it to the last minute places unnecessary pressure on you and often results in a second rate effort.

Similar to the preparation of a wedding day, set out the stages that will need to be met in order to deliver on time and consider whether there are any ways through any potential problems that may arise. Are there any additional resources which would help you to meet the required timescale be it a sales target, project sign-off or a chauffeur driven ride to the church.

While the timescale for a project may seem reasonable when viewed in isolation, the chances are that it will cut across other assignments that also have similar deadlines.

One tactic to adopt could be to ask the person setting the deadline whether the current project takes priority over others. In the sales arena this can be very difficult as each of the projects belong to a different boss who are unconnected and require information returned as quickly as possible.

Fortunately for sales personnel the decision on which project to concentrate on is fundamentally made by balancing the best return versus effort and resource required.

Before you start to work on the project make sure you are completely clear what is required of you, what resources you will require, and what additional support you can call upon if necessary. Once again, it is essential that you do this early enough to make a difference. Failure to deal with these issues is a frequent cause of missed deadlines.

Don’t go over the top in seeking perfection .

This can be another failing and is often seen as a lack of confidence. It may be a matter of research or information gathering which is out of proportion and results in the person undertaking the task becoming bogged down and unable to see the wood for the trees.

Or it may be unwillingness to let go of the project relentlessly honing and polishing it with the aim of producing the perfect job. You need to avoid both of these tendencies especially when time is tight due to a forthcoming event which you have no way of changing and must work around. You need to recognise the point at which further effort does not produce a commensurate return.

This same rule I am often reminded cannot be applied to ensuring a happy and long-lasting marriage.