Conceiving a business plan will save you time and energy

Planning saves time

You need to plan several areas. Your prospects (and customers), your geographical area and, of course, what you're going to sell. Paramount is how to make the best use of your time. The small firm owner's hardest decision I have found is to accept that so many days a month must be allocated to selling. It is a hard discipline for many that time away from the business will not be wasteful but is essential for expanding the customer base and keeping in touch with the outside world. It is all too easy to remain locked in the day-to-day crisis firefighting of running your business.

Market research will have told you where the prospects lie, and advertisements and coupon replies or mailshots set out the pattern of calls to be made. As invariably your time is the most precious commodity, try to train someone else to arrange appointments by phone. Get a map and divide up the territory. It may help to run a circle around your base representing one hour's driving time, then further circles beyond that. Try to avoid dashing about haphazardly as time between prospects is dead time. In a city use public transport, if it is physically possible. Use route planning software like Travelmanager that can work out the most efficient route between up to 25 calls based on postcodes.

If often pays to ask the buyer when is the best time to call. You may be surprised at the odd hours that people would welcome a sales presentation. Although as a general rule the safest time for a first call is after 9.30 am, to allow post and messages to be dealt with, an increasing number of businesses are starting before 8 am or run into the evening. Selling is highly competitive and picking a time when your more lazy rivals are not astir could well pay dividends. Victor Kiam, in his book Going For It!, relates that calling on Saturdays or working through lunch has paid dividends for him. There are no queues of reps at those times and the buyer often welcomes a more relaxed discussion. Different trades require a different approach in your timing. Publicans, doctors, vets and head teachers have a 'best' time to call.

Don't always call in the same town on the same day of the week. That way you may catch that buyer who is always out. It is strange also how different places look on other days of the week. If you can afford to go out every day, then work on a rotating pattern. This will shift the week on. Friday afternoons are generally a poor time to call. Leave them for your record-keeping and paperwork.

It is best to allocate a set time each week or month when you will go out selling. This will vary if you are a brand-new business or well established. But the time never to neglect calling is when you are busy. Your spate of business may not last and trying to establish fresh customers when you are in a slump is too late. The time to establish contacts is at the crest, not the trough.

Get organised

There are many software packages to record all your sales contacts, known grandly as Customer Relationship Management (CRM). The market leader is probably ACT! by Sage. Such a tool will enable you to record and plan all your sales prospects, log appointments, set targets and schedule your day or week. Records can be kept of every contact or visit. Follow-ups should not be missed and letters and quotes can be filed efficiently.

One of the secrets of selling must be to take a genuine interest in the growth and success of your customers. Their success, not yours. Remember, the customer comes first. Between calls keep your name subtly in front of your client by clipping and sending odd paragraphs of trade news or gossip that he or she may not have seen. You don't need to write a letter – just staple it to your compliments slip with a note 'may be of interest to you'. It all helps to build a warm relationship. There are more ways of getting business than writing an order form.

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