Ever arrived a few minutes late for a sales meeting or appointment? Or called a prospect a few minutes after the scheduled time?
Time is a precious commodity for busy decision makers and even showing up a few minutes can negatively influence the outcome of that meeting.
During a sales training workshop I recently conducted, one sales person expressed his frustration when he showed up almost 10 minutes to an appointment and learned that his prospect would no longer see him. He felt that this was unfair especially since a traffic jam had caused his delay.
What he didn't realize is that corporate executives are extremely busy and many feel that tardiness is a sign of disrespect.
Decision makers don't care if you got caught in traffic or were delayed by construction. They have many projects on the go, a jam-packed schedule to content with, and dozens of emails and voice mails waiting for them at any given time.
When you arrive late you, in effect, indicate that your time is more valuable than theirs.
So, how do you contend with unexpected traffic delays?
The approach that I have found most effective is to allot about double the time you think you need. For instance, if the average drive time to a prospect's office is 35 minutes, I would allow approximately 60 minutes. The reason I suggest this is because it is rare to encounter any delay that will double your travel time.
Of course, you may be thinking, "That sounds fine, Kelley...but what do I do with the extra time if I don't encounter any delays?"
Easy...
Practise your opening, asking your questions, reviewing the key points you want to make, and your call-to-action. Use that time to review your PowerPoint presentation and to anticipate potential objections and your responses. Or, at the very least, review the key objectives for that meeting and how you will know if you have achieved those goals.
Arriving on time may seem like a small detail but it's one that can make or break your sales opportunity.
My philosophy is that if you don't arrive or call exactly (or a few moments before) the scheduled time you are late.
In my opinion, late is late.