Little we need to tell people why procrastination can kill a business or jeopardize an individual’s career progress. We all procrastinate for one or another reason but the real problem is with people who keep doing it endlessly until they find that their tasks have become unmanageable. If you or your salespeople are regularly in the habit of procrastinating, then it is time to set it right at the earliest possible. More importantly, you need to recognize that you or your sales team has this problem in them and that you need procrastination help from business consultant professionals who understand this problem in depth.
The worst form of procrastination is Sales Procrastination wherein salespeople don’t even take their first step to meet customers or clients but justify it for themselves with invalid reasons. Fear of being rejected or negative imagined reasons could all be potential reasons for this. If you are a solo entrepreneur or someone new to selling jobs and you have this problem seek the help of a business consultant immediately. They can analyze the stumbling blocks and chart a growth path combined with an appropriate sales strategy.
Procrastination is not an incurable state of mind – it is curable when you understand that it has taken deep roots within you or your sales team and you are willing to seek and accept help.
Defining and Understanding Procrastination
The nearest meaning of procrastination can be found in the American Heritage Dictionary. It defines it as: “To put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness.”
As we can see, procrastination is all about habitual carelessness and plain simple laziness. Carelessness and laziness are not an acceptable behavioral pattern in business, and unless corrected, it is sure to not only ruin a business owner but all those whose lives and livelihood revolve around it.
Is procrastinating always a bad thing? No, not always, but good if you have a plan and think it will give you an advantage, though this is not the case in most business scenarios. There are many examples of deriving benefits from procrastination but they are mostly accidental that not even the procrastinator would have guessed earlier.
Fighting Procrastination for Sales People
Personally, it is the view of many business leaders that procrastinating is an ailment of one’s mind and the worst affected in business are salespersons. It has the potential to create a feeling of guilt and anxiety having failed to do something at the right time. The reasons why salespeople are more prone to procrastinate are not difficult to see, but broadly it centers on fear. Fear in salespersons can be overcome with professional counseling and training.
Here is what affected individuals can do to fight procrastination:
- Break down tasks into manageable lots. You cannot swallow an apple full – right? Then why not consider cutting it into small slices and eating one at a time? This would take roughly about the same time if you had to eat it wholly, but here you have broken it down into a manageable task. Apply this principle to selling – send an email one day, request an appointment on another day and call on your prospects on the third day. Don’t ever pitch to do everything in a single go; break your tasks and do one at a time.
- Stay organised at all times. One of the reasons why salespersons procrastinate is that they don’t have all the requisites in place. Getting your business cards, preparing a strategy and collaterals is a tough job. Therefore get them ready days ahead. Have multiple plans handy, if one of your prospects has canceled an appointment, you will have another. Don’t waste your time lamenting on a canceled appointment or a failed deal. There are better things that you can do right now.
- Have a realistic goal that you can accomplish. Planning for the sky is easy to do because you are the only person doing it, but putting it into action is more about setting a workable goal that is realistic and commensurate with others involved in reaching the business objectives of your business. Unrealistic goals are simply dreams (good – we recommend you do it) but return back to reality as soon as you can. Realistic plans work if only you are willing to give up laziness. Don’t ever try to justify postponing a task; it is self-cheating.
Gamification and Strategising – A Sure-fire Technique
Gamification is a technique that modern business leaders use to fight against procrastination and lethargy. When your work is filled with a purpose and you have definite metrics to assess your achievements, the efforts you put into the business will simply turn into pleasant tasks that will make the turn you away from procrastinating. Towards this, you will need to have a workable strategy from a professional business consultant.
Our Business Ladder is one of the top market research companies that have helped entrepreneurs to draw a sales strategy to shed procrastination and set salespersons on the path to success. As a businessperson having to deal with procrastinating salespersons in your payroll and willing to help the affected, get in touch with a business consulting firm today itself. Don’t procrastinate on this; you could potentially be doing a harm to your business.
If you are looking for the best business consultant, then Our Business Ladder is what you need.
