Are You Strategically Thinking or Tactically Responding?

How do you spend your day? Strategically thinking or tactically responding?

Top-performing salespeople and, for that matter, any successful person knows the value of being able to set their agenda when it comes to how they will spend their time.

I watch too many average salespeople spend all day doing nothing but reacting tactically to what is happening around them. These same people are the ones who complain about how they can't achieve the big numbers top performers seem to achieve.

We all have 24 hours in a day. There is absolutely zero opportunity to expand that number, yet why is it some people simply get more done? It's not a mystery at all -- they control their calendar, they set their agenda and, most of all, they value their time.

Top-performing salespeople don't lose sight of the numerous "tactical activities" they need to attend to when it comes to managing their customers. They don't lose sight, but they don't allow those tactical activities to overwhelm them, because they're prepared. They've prepared ahead of time strategically thinking about how they will allocate their time to achieve the big goals they are pushing toward.

By thinking strategically, we're able to understand better what the expected outcome should be and ultimately what is the most optimal way to get there. The picture I like to describe is the tactical person is like the driver who is only watching the car ahead of them and never sees the slowing traffic in their lane. The strategic person is the driver who is watching the road a 1/2-mile ahead, sees the slowing traffic and is able to properly prepare for it.

What are the challenges you may face in the coming quarter?

What plans do you need to make should the challenges arise?

Same applies to opportunities. Will you respond after they're here or will you help shape them as they arise? Strategic Thinking vs. Tactical Responder. The choice is yours, but the outcome will be different.

Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results.

Mark Hunter, your next keynote speaker: 

Mark Hunter, CSP, “The Sales Hunter” is recognized globally as one of the top sales speakers, known for his challenging insights, high-energy, and passion to create change that he delivers each time he speaks, whether it be a sales kick-off meeting, corporate function or association event. Mark Hunter is the author of the best selling book, High-Profit Prospecting. Here’s what others are saying:

Mark presented "Accelerate Your Sales Prospecting" at the February 2015 Institute for Excellence in Sales program in Northern Virginia. He nailed it and gave the 150 selling professionals and business owners in attendance amazing tips, strategies and tactics they could implement that day. The sales leaders at our program universally acknowledged Mark as one of the top speakers we've ever had.

• Fred Diamond, Executive Director, IES Washington DC

At our annual company sales meeting we' ve never seen a speaker work so hard, with advance preparation, with such genuine style of delivery, and with such hunger for results. If you weren't on the edge of your seat....you were in a coma. Period! 

• Mark Allen, Regional Manager, Marlin Companies

Mark’s strategies are innovative, easy to follow and easy to use in the "real world." He customized his strategies to directly speak to the issues and challenges facing our unique business, and he helped us encompass specific selling examples. This training was very applicable to our sales staff, both at a senior and junior level, as it reinforced important sales techniques.”

• Danielle Pakradooni, Blue Man Group

Copyright 2017, Mark Hunter "The Sales Hunter." Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results.