If you feel that you put more energy into avoiding a certain task instead of trying to cross it off your to-do list, you are in danger. First, your tendency to put off your work will decrease your sales results. Second, you will see your work is piling up and you will start feeling overwhelmed and guilty. An article on website sellingprof.com deals with the modern scarecrow – procrastination
Sources of procrastination
The source of procrastination can be twofold, according to Jane Burka (author of “Procrastination: Why You Do It; What to Do About It."), both the fear of failure and the fear of success.
The first reason means, it is less unpleasant to fail because you put off your task for too long than to fail because you were not good enough to accomplish it. The fear of success means, that you as a salesman don’t want to beat your sales goals. You think that if you beat them, you will be expected to exceed even higher sales goals the following month.
Now, whatever the trigger is, what to do about it?
Huge task can be split…
… into smaller, manageable pieces. You will find it much easier to start once you have done that.
Power blocking
Divide your working day into short periods of about one hour long. Do nothing but your calling during these periods. And take breaks between them.
Schedule time purposely
Try to set aside a specific time and day to an unpleasant task (unpleasant customer calls). Again, it will be much more natural for you to start immediately. You can also attempt to make the most unpleasant tasks more bearable. For example, if you don’t like prospecting, learn better ways of doing it.
Do not anticipate a response in sales
Never be the victim of your negative ideas. You may feel that the customer will not be interested in your offer, but you should approach him anyway. Don’t be afraid, instead, call him.
-jk-