Let’s go back to the alphabets A.S.K.
We will start with “A”.
What does “Activity” mean in a sales context?
Examples:
For activity in property sales, the property agent got to bring clients for viewing the various properties that this potential client wants to view. The more clients he brings to view more properties, the higher the chances of him closing the sale.
In sales context, the higher the “activity” of bringing potential clients for viewings, the higher the chances of closing the deal.
In summary, activity is directly correlated to sales outcome.
In financial services sales, the more prospects or existing clients you meet and create value for them, your chances of closing the deal will be higher. In short, activity means creating the opportunities to meet new prospects or existing clients either physically or virtually.
Study and understand your market sectors first. Then zoom in on the potential market opportunities of creating higher value for your clients either through portfolio reviews, new products introduction or client appreciation calls.
When you are focusing on the activity of creating opportunities to meet clients or prospects, you will definitely be able to close some deals. (provided you are consistent in your prospecting activity)
Sales Activity means meeting as many people as possible in a given timeframe.
Next alphabet, which is “S”.
“S” stands for Skills.
According to Cambridge Dictionary, Skill is defined as:
“An ability to do an activity or job well, especially because you have practised it”
So skills come with practice and a lot of hard work.
Heard of the phrase: Practice makes perfect?
Actually it is incorrect, “perfect practice makes perfect”. You will not perform well if you keep practising the wrong stuff.
The next important point I want to highlight will be “deliberate practice”. Heard of deliberate practice before?
See the YouTube link below for a better understanding.
Deliberate Practice in Words (Summary taken from the YouTube Link)
Deliberate practice is a mindful and highly structured form of learning by doing.
It’s a process of continuous experimentation to first achieve mastery and eventually full automaticity of a specific skill.
Here are some tips on how to do it well.
Define Success and Drill Deliberately
Define all the elements you need to practice to become successful.
Then drill each element deliberately, one after the other.
In Tennis, that could be first your serves and then later your leg work.
If you want to become a professional barista, first perfect your moves to make the espresso, then your skills to serve the ideal coffee.
Plan, Reflect and Take Notes
Plan out your practice routine, for example in a notebook.
After each session, reflect and write down what you've discovered: what worked? What didn’t?
The idea is to get a clear sense of how a particular session improves your skills and then to experiment to find a new and even better way to achieve your goals.
Go Slow
To build a good foundation of muscle memory, practice slow and correctly.
If we move too fast, we risk learning and internalizing the wrong skills, which can bring terrible consequences. To achieve mastery, our brain needs time to develop.
So start slow and then gradually increase the speed until you give all you've got.
Limit Your Sessions to Focus
Deliberate practice is hard mental work. Limit the sessions to a reasonable duration that allows you to stay focused. This may be 15 minutes if you are younger and 60 minutes if you are older.
Cristiano Ronaldo trains around 3-4 hours of football a day.
Young Shaolin Monks practice 2 hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon.
To keep their attention high, they switch the style of practice every 10 minutes.
Maximize Practice Time
Legendary basketball coach John Wooden used to let each of his players practice putting on socks and shoes so that they learn to do it really fast. By doing this, he maximized the time to practice throwing the ball and discussing game strategy with his team.
Track Small Intervals of Improvement
If you practice running 800 meters, count the milliseconds, not the minutes. If you are working out or practice controlling your diet, measure milligrams and millimetres. The smaller the data points you measure, the faster you see progress and the more you feel motivated to continue.
Use “Deliberate Practice” to further enhance your skills and keep practicing till you are really good.
How do you know you are good? Start by measuring your closing ratio. The sales conversion ratio will tell you whether you are heading in the right directions.
I will cover a short topic on this in the next blog post.
Final alphabet “K”, which is Knowledge.
According to Cambridge Dictionary, Knowledge is defined as:
“Understanding of or information about a subject that you get by experience or study, either known by one person or by people generally.”
How can you gain knowledge at an incredible speed?
Time management is the key to this truth.
Every one of us only got 24 hours a day and it is how we use it that matters. Be very targeted in your efforts to learn about a subject matter. If you want to learn about a particular topic and you know this will be helpful in your career or business, you need to zoom in on the specifics.
For example: I wanted to learn about closing techniques in my early career years and I bought all the books about sales and read every one of them. I checked with my seniors on their closing techniques and ask them point blank the exact method that they used. I am trying to learn as much as possible in my limited timeframe. I skipped my entertainment time during the weekends for work and new learnings. This is where I used my time to learn new knowledge. It is tough. Imagining all your friends are having fun and you are working through weekends after weekends for the initial years. But no pain, no gain. It’s pretty rewarding.
I am going to introduce a YouTube video that is pretty impactful in his time management method. Enjoy… Casey Neistat…
To sum it up, the combination of A.S.K will give you the sales outcome that you want. But do take note, it cuts both ways. Either you put in the time & efforts and reap the rewards. Or chill and take it slow, your final results will tell too.
I read this analogy somewhere. Let me put it in my own way.
The Analogy
Every one of us got to work hard some point in our lifetime. Either when we are young or when we are old. Why not work hard when we are young? Cos I rather work hard now, then when I am old and frail.
Interesting analogy. But I concurred.
Have a great month ahead and stay safe.
Performance Coach, Galvin Ang
