Sales people are different to other job roles, once we’ve earned the bosses trust it’s often practical for us to work from home, or at the very least to have considerable freedom during our working day. With the UK’s roads more congested than ever, and the delights of winter upon us once again, the attraction of working from home has probably never seemed greater.
In fact, I read somewhere recently that there are some 650,000 people in Britain who have opted out of the rat race and have joined the ranks of home workers. However, working alone from home is not as easy as it may seem with feelings of isolation increasingly common, a problem that can be seriously compounded with sales people as it can be a very lonely life at the best of times. What at first glance seems to be so positive can very quickly be a noose for us to hang ourselves with.
With that in mind, what can we do to ensure that we excel when working at sales, however much freedom we do or don’t end up with?
Plan on a daily basis
Firstly it has to be key to plan ahead effectively and get organised by setting goals and building a routine. You are advised to review your priorities at the beginning of each day to ensure that plans stay on track. Better still formulate a “To Do” list as the last task in the day, which then serves as a blueprint for the following days activities.
Creating the right environment
If you do end up working from where you live, even if it is only a very small part of the time then you should define your workspace. Avoid distractions by separating your personal life from work life as much as possible by having a dedicated place to work. Have somewhere to store your files and paperwork and preferably get yourself some simple storage cupboards that are in keeping with the rest of the property but which can store everything you need in a practical fashion. Good storage that is smart and presentable yet allows you to find what you want quickly and easily is almost worth it’s weight in gold.
Maintain good practises
Staying on the subject of working from where you live, it’s essential to maintain good office practices. Ensure your workspace is comfortable with a source of natural light and a door to shut out the noises and distractions of the outside world.
Maintain the 9 to 5
Many people fall into the trap of thinking that once they’ve been given the freedom of opting out of the “9 to 5” routine that others have to work to, that they then can start late and finish early. Oh how far from the truth they probably are. Yes, you can to a degree structure your day the way that you want to, for example if you work better first thing in the morning, then use that time effectively and plan on finishing a little earlier. However this doesn’t mean that you can do totally as you please. Pretty much every successful person I’ve ever known has learnt to work hard before they learnt to work smart.
Maintain appearances
If I was to say “Keep up appearances” you might think you know what I’m getting at, equally there’s a good chance you might not be quite with me on this one. When you’re working from outside the office it’s so much in your interest for your customers to be comfortable when they communicate with you. Consider having a dedicated telephone line, fax and definitely email facility. If you take a call on your mobile (maybe whilst collecting the kids from school) it perhaps isn’t particularly professional for the caller to hear the noise of your children in the background.
Make sure you have the right tools
Harnessing technology has to be the sensible thing to do, however all too often we talk about it but don’t always use it. We’ve already mentioned email and you’ll quite possibly want a quality printer, maybe even a binder for your proposals. VoiP can of course make you an extension of the company phone system and in this day and age it’s hardly rocket science for you to be on your IT network when working remotely.
Mix with others
Once you gain some freedom from having to be in the office all the time its quite important to ensure that you mix with others. Why not attend networking events such as breakfast meetings or conferences to maintain and build business contacts and locate more opportunities. The bonus of generating interest in your products and services is obviously not to be sniffed at and the original purpose of bouncing off others to help us stay focused has to be a good thing. Of course any group that you mix with that doesn’t motivate and revitalise you should be dropped like the proverbial lead balloon.
Develop your sounding boards
Staying on this theme of ensuring that you continue to mix with others, it’s no bad idea to develop what a social worker would probably call a “support network.” In plain english, get supportive friends, colleagues or trusted associates to act as a sounding board for testing new ideas and plans. Having preached the need to stay in reasonably close contact with others, make sure that you only mix with positive others. Talking regularly to people that moan, to cynics, to the negative - not only does you no good but almost certainly will do you untold harm.
Get the balance right
As much as pains me to say this I have to accept that we should foster effective daily habits and get into a routine of taking out quality time for lunch, a walk or to read a few pages of a good book on a daily basis. All the research says that we must recharge the batteries regularly and that if we try and just plough on regardless then we’re very likely to become quite significantly less productive. In simple terms we slow down, until we eventually stop. The answer then is to make sure that we get the balance right. Work hard and then play hard as many have said before me.
Just remember to do the working hard bit first.
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