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Years ago (longer than I would care to admit, actually)
when I started my sales career, I attended a seminar
on basic sales skills — prospecting, cold-calling,
closing and time management. I was like a
sponge, absorbing everything that was being said by
the instructor. And he taught me something that I think
about and use to this very day —
he taught me about "staying on the right side of
the time line."
The Time Line
The instructor went to the easel (I told you it was a
while ago!) and drew a big "T." At the top left side of
the "T" he drew a minus sign and a dollar sign. At the
top right side of the "T" he drew a plus sign and a
dollar sign.
He asked us to take a blank sheet of paper and copy
what he had drawn. Then, he asked us to write
down everything we did during our sales day and
list each activity either on the right side of the T
or the left side of the T depending on whether the
activity made us money (right side) or didn't make
us money (left side).
The whole class started frantically scribbling and when
the pencils stopped, many of us were audibly groaning.
You see, we realized that much of what we had
been doing during the day (staff meetings, editing
marketing brochures, socializing with fellow workers,
helping the folks in marketing get out a
mailing, etc.) were activities that were
nonrevenue generating. We were on the wrong (left)
side of the time line! And, it was costing us sales
and commissions.
That was a defining day in my career. I started then to
assess what I was doing in terms of generating or
not generating revenue. It's not that I don't do
any nonrevenue generating tasks during my day. I still
do things like read through our lease, talk to our
accountant and make the coffee. But I realize the
difference between the two and what tasks
take priority because they are revenue
generating.
Hiring — On
the Right Side or the Left Side?
I've worked with many managers who I believe would
put the activities that are part of the hiring process
(i.e., writing a job description, designing a
compensation plan, interviewing, making an offer,
etc.) on the left side of the time line.
I say that because I see that during the hiring
process, there seems to be no urgency to their
actions.
The bottom line is — they don't see hiring as a
revenue generating task. Further, they see it as
taking away from the things they do to
generate revenue! They are wrong.
Here's the
logic…
Salespeople make you money by selling your product.
Marketing people make you money by attracting
customers so the salespeople can sell them your
product. So, doesn't that mean that hiring these
people is a revenue generating task as well?
If you haven't thought about the hiring process in quite
this way, that might explain why you're dragging your
feet on some of your hiring initiatives or why it takes
you a long time to fill a position. If this is so, I urge
you to try to see your hiring efforts on the "right
side" of the time line.
And One More
Thing…
If you need further convincing that hiring is
revenue generating, remember the "Cost
of an Open Position" rule. If you have a
salesperson who has a $1,500,000 quota, you
LOSE $6,000 for every day that position
remains unfilled. You can read more about that here.
How about you? Do you think hiring belongs on the
"right side" of the time line or is it less important than
your other tasks? Click here to tell me!
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