Ever send your company’s intro marketing collateral to prospects after a full day of smiling and dialing?
You met your daily call quota and now you’ve got to put together an overview of your product(s) to get the sale moving.
Only thing is, each packet is customized and demands hardcore concentration that you no longer have.
Cinematographers and photographers discovered that there is an ideal time of the day to shoot and aptly named it – The Magic Hour.
The Magic Hour (also called The Golden Hour and Blue Hour) is the moment right before sunrise or just after sunset when you can’t see the sun but its light is still visible.
This period creates a ‘magical and majestic’ effect in film and video production that’s sought after because of its sheer beauty.
Early in my sales career, my work flow was reactive and I was easily sidetracked.
As soon as I’d get off the phone with an interested party, I’d drop everything and begin compiling the marketing materials to send within that hour.
While enthusiastic, this practice ate into my cold-calling time and took me out of rhythm.
Executive Decision
After years of sending out collateral at day’s end, I made an executive decision and let my prospects know they’d be getting their info the next day.
Surprise – No One Cared.
Prospects and clients understand that you’re just as busy/ collateral and contracts can wait a day without blow-back.
While developing the discipline to ‘block time’ takes some adjusting, once adopted, it allows you to mono-task and stay focused.
Oh and indirectly – waiting before sending a prospect the goods shows them you’re not so desperate for a sale that you’d stop the presses and pivot towards A Definite Maybe.
Recognizing that your deck and company schwag are gateways to winning business, be sure to send the best representation of your brand.
This is a helluva lot more than a casual exchange.
Your potential buyer has made a conscious decision to review your solution and requested you prove your worth.
The Magic Hour as a Sales Productivity Tool
I sell complex and intangible solutions that help corporate entities recover large class action settlements.
The messaging has to resonate with the highest legal, IT, purchasing and finance officers in these companies.
Spending a few hours away after a call allows time for research needed to send comprehensive proposals.
During this period, I pay attention to formulating individualized & targeted communication that separates me from the competition.
On an enterprise sales level, you’re not an order taker. Your responsibilities might include:
- Providing a white glove level of services
- Consulting in an advisory fashion and solving high-level problems and inefficiencies
- Demonstrating solutions to issues the client didn’t know existed until they meet you
Sales is a lucky grind and if you’ve done it, you know mathematically – you’ll lose more business than you’ll win.
By recognizing the optimum times when your ability to manage specific tasks are through the roof, your chances of winning business increases while in The Magic Hour.
Counterbalancing your daily activity with your peak performance windows will elevate your sales game!
Optimize Your Prime Time
You may have noticed, we’re surrounded by machines and automation’s in high demand.
Consider the possibility that you’re a sales machine.
HVAC, streetlights, motors, computers.
They all have built in mechanisms designed to make them function optimally during peak hours and reduce output and/ or consumption on off-peak hours while remaining efficient.
Why not follow that model to boost productivity and leverage your resources for maximum benefit?
I’m up at 5am most weekdays and tackle the day’s toughest tasks early while firing on all cylinders.
From there, I plan the remaining activities around a ‘performance clock’ and decide which (Admin, Cold Calls/ Email, Follow Up Email, RFP’s) should be done when.
This maximizes output while avoiding self-sabotage.
The Magic Hour doesn’t actually last the whole sixty minutes – it changes per season and latitude.
Point being, your Shine Time can be whenever, as short or as long as you want or can handle.
The key is recognizing it exists, tapping into it and milking your potential.
At what part of the day do you tell yourself?
Self, this is when the magic happens…