A Day in the Life of a Salesperson

Do these schedules resemble how you spend your week?  Your schedule may or may not be this busy, but this is a real example of how one very successful Thrifty salesperson spends her time.

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Sales & Marketing Weekly Report 

Monday 

Tuesday 

Wednesday 

Thursday 

Friday 

As you can see, the week is full of plans, proposals, and appointments which, in turn, become a profitable week and time well spent.  No matter how you spend your time each day, there are certain things that must be accomplished in order for you to be successful in sales.  With the help of the Thrifty CORE Advisory Council, we have put together a list of tasks that will help you fine tune your sales efforts.  Some tasks need to be done on a daily basis, while others can be done weekly, monthly, or even occasionally.  Take a look at the following suggestions of how to handle these regular tasks and apply them to your own schedule.

Daily Tasks 

  1. Check phone messages and return phone calls promptly.
  2. Go through mail; sort and handle.
  3. Review appointments for the day.
  4. Check e-mail and respond, even if only to say you received their message and will respond more in-depth later.
  5. Read newspapers, business journals, and trade publications for new businesses and for personnel appointments and promotion announcements made by companies.  It’s important to keep up to date with what is going on in the community.
  6. Prospect on a daily basis.  (Minimum of 20 calls per day.)
  7. Send proposals to prospective new clients. 

Weekly Tasks 

  1. Stay alert to trends that might impact your target market, product or promotion strategy.
  2. Collect competitors’ ads and literature.  Study them for information about strategy, product features, benefits, etc.
  3. Use broadcast faxes or e-mail messages to notify your customers of product service updates.
  4. Send out broadcast faxes to travel agents, hotels, local corporate accounts, body shops, and dealerships.
  5. Implement signed accounts.  (Add to Blue Bird or BlueStar system and inform counter agents.)
  6. Review marketing and advertising.
  7. Hold weekly meetings with owners or direct report person and give verbal or written report on the events of the week.
  8. Have a minimum of 10 pre-set appointments.
  9. Cold call on the businesses surrounding your appointments.
  10. Service calls to existing accounts.  (Minimum of 10 per week.)

Monthly/Quarterly Tasks 

  1. Set specific marketing goals every year.  Review and adjust these quarterly.
  2. Publish a newsletter for customers and employees.  (It doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive.)
  3. Develop a brochure of services.
  4. Turn in monthly sales reports for both rental and valet parking.
  5. Request a corporate account report from your regional sales director.
  6. Hold monthly meetings with operations.
  7. Run business reports for travel agents.
  8. Deliver commission payments.
  9. Run a local corporate report and a CD report.
  10. Make a new local corporate list for the counter staff. 

How many cold calls should a salesperson be making? 

Cold calling is the process of prospecting for new customers.  The purpose of cold calling is to get an appointment, not to sell!  Successful cold calling can lead to several positive things, such as: 

Most salespeople feel that doing cold calls over the phone is the most effective technique.  Begin with contacting a prospect over the phone and requesting a contact name and other pertinent information.  Then follow through with an introduction letter, as well as a call requesting an appointment.  Drop-in cold calls are usually only made to businesses such as local travel agents, hotels, and body shops.  An exception to this rule should be made, however, when a new Thrifty location is opening.  Take time to canvas the area around the new location and drop in on prospective corporate customers in the vicinity.  Make sure to take them information on the new location, as well as a special giveaway or offer to encourage them to try Thrifty. 

Often, team owners are unsure as to how many cold calls their salespeople should be making.  According to our experienced salespeople, this number will vary depending on the size of the market.  A seasoned salesperson may only need to make 30-50 cold calls per week.  This is due to the fact that they have a solid customer base and spend a large amount of their time servicing accounts.  However, a new salesperson in uncharted territory should be making from 50-100 calls a week.  

Cold Calling Ratio

20-5-1

 

 20 Calls

 5 Appointments

 1 Close

“Hey Buddy, can you spare $113.25?” 

How many people out there can just easily “spare” $113.25?  According to Sales and Marketing Management Magazine, this is the cost for an average sales call!  This is why customer retention is so important.  It costs much less to keep satisfied customers than trying to find new ones to replace them.  

Apply these guidelines to keep customers satisfied: 

Understand that satisfied customers: 

What are the best resources for finding new prospects?

There are a variety of sources to finding lists for new prospects.  They can be as fundamental as your local phone book, or as specific as a leads list from a networking group.  Here are some examples of where our salespeople find their prospecting lists:

 If you have any further questions regarding prospecting, contact one of the members of the Thrifty CORE Advisory Council for more detailed information.  (CORE members are listed here) 

Prospecting Idea List 

 Airlines Helicopter Services
Associations Hospitals
Apartment complexes Hotels

Athletics dept. in schools (drill teams, bands, etc.)

 Landscape companies, nurseries, greenhouses
Auto body shops Internet sites 
Auto parts stores HSMA
Bakery shops Limo services
Banks, Savings & Loans Local airports
Bicycle races Local attractions
Bridal shops/shows Local entertainers
Bus depots/bus stops Manufacturing companies
Caterers/party planners Meeting planners
Chamber of Commerce Military contractors
Charity functions/organizations Motels
Churches  Motion picture/television industry
Professional practices (attorneys, doctors, etc.) Moving companies (Allied, Mayflower, United, etc.)
Colleges/Universities Muffler shops
Computer stores Newspapers - want ads
Concert promoters Police department
Construction business City wide limo/shuttle van
Contractors Property management companies
Convention service companies Real estate (relocations)
Country clubs RV parks/campgrounds
Day care centers (child/adult) Schools - elementary, secondary, private
Dealerships - car, truck, motorcycle Science centers
Delivery companies (local courier, FedEx, UPS, etc.) Weekly rental apartments/extended stay hotels
Drug enforcement agencies Ski shops
Equipment rental companies Sports teams (local)
Fitness centers Sporting goods shops
Florists Taxi service companies
Foreign car repair shops Trade shows
Formal wear rental shops Transmission shops
Funeral homes Travel agents
Furniture stores Undercover police assignments
Golf tournaments Visitor & information centers
Government offices Secretarial services
Grocery stores Yellow pages

What organizations should a salesperson belong to?

Belonging to local organizations and networking groups can be very valuable to business.  Research which groups meet in the area and join the ones that will benefit sales most.  Try organizations out by attending meetings as a guest and ask members how the organization has been helpful to them.  Below are some of the organizations recommended by the Thrifty Core Advisory Council.

How often should salespeople and sales managers meet?

It’s important for salespeople and sales managers to meet frequently and report on what is happening out in the field.  Use meetings to discuss new clients, to brainstorm about new sales leads, to discuss problems with unsatisfied clients, etc.  Some salespeople prefer to meet with their team owners or sales managers once a week and simply review verbally what took place that week.  Others prefer to hand in detailed sales reports each week and only meet once a month.  Most importantly, decide what works best for the group and stick to a schedule.  

It is equally important to find a sales report form that works well for everyone.  Some prefer to stick to a simple hand-written sales report, but there are also several software programs that are excellent for sales reports, such as the desktop Palm Pilot and ACT.

Click here to see examples of sales reports done in Palm Pilot (page 1, page 2), ACT (page 1, page 2), and a simple hand-written (page 1, page 2) version. 

How should business be tracked?

Accurately tracking both local corporate account and nationwide corporate account rental activity is vital to Thrifty’s continued success in the corporate marketplace.  Thrifty must be able to provide management reports to corporations and businesses letting them know the status of their account and fulfillment of revenue commitments.  The following is intended to help salespeople become more knowledgeable about how tracking can be accomplished in the Blue Bird system.

Click here to see a good example of a typical tracking report, as well as a sample Blue Bird report.