ROI of Time

Think of all the famous quotations about time, all the cliches and all of the time that we have lost as well as all of the time we've got coming. There must be a reason so many people have said so much and thought so much about TIME !

I had a friend, whom we'll call Bill, that was a salesman for one of my customers. Very energetic and friendly, Bill did a good job. His company decided to put more emphasis on my product and joint calls were arranged with the various sales people, with Bill first in line.

The calls were to be in a territory 2 hours away so I suggested that we meet at a fast food restaurant about 6:15 so we could get in a full day. He advised that the sales manager required all sales people to check in at the office each morning at 8. "Ok, we'll just have to tell the wives dinner will be late" but again I was advised that check in at the office was due at 4:30!

We spent more time driving than selling that day. The next day I called the sales manager and managed to keep the conversation somewhat polite; "if you think you have hired children that need to be herded about - fire them. Free up your people to work!" He was so paranoid about people not putting in their 8 hours that he didn't allow the others to start early with me, either. He had to lay eyes on them twice a day.

As a salesperson or manager, you have to put the best effort in and base it upon the best times to see your accounts. For some industries it is best to see people before their day actually starts, others want to do lunch and people knocking on doors of homes have to do it at night or weekends. Dulles Airport wanted me there at 11 p.m. for a project . Do what has to be done to serve your customer and in the long run, what will serve your company and yourself.