Part 2: I Reduced My Working Hours and My Sales Went Up
This is the second part of the story of my 20-year sales career.
Last time, I talked about how "I sold well when I did exactly what I was told, but I wasn't really there."
Today, I'll continue that story. It's a somewhat surprising tale from when I first started selling well.
For those of you who saw the title and thought, "That's impossible"—
……I get it (laughs). If my younger self were told that, I would definitely think the same thing.
Sales is usually a world of "increase your number of visits," "earn it with your feet," and "handle the volume." I believed that at first too, and I was moving around like crazy.
But it's true.When I reduced the amount I moved, my sales didn't go down; they went up.
It was the moment my common sense was turned upside down.
Today, I'm going to tell you the whole "trick" behind it.
1. I didn't "want" to reduce my hours. I "had" to.
First, I'll be honest with you.
I didn't reduce my hours because of some clever idea like "let's work efficiently."
I had no choice but to reduce my hours.
It was that incident I talked about before. I was working too much from morning until night, neglecting my family, and one day when I got home—my wife was crying her eyes out.
"I can't be with you anymore."
——That was the intensity of it.
You can find that article here.
If I didn't change things as they were, the worst possible outcome for me was waiting: my family would fall apart.
But I didn't want to lose sales. I wanted to keep what was going well right now.
Reduce time. Protect sales.
How could I solve this impossible problem? Cornered, I thought of only one thing.
How can I meet with them efficiently?
2. The first thing I asked was about their "preferred method of contact"
The first thing I started doing was deciding to always confirm this when I met someone for the first time.
The first thing was—the person's preferred method of contact.
"Doctor, what is the best way to contact you?"
Is email better, or is a phone call better? I made it a point to ask that first thing.
When you ask this, you get some incredibly surprising answers.
Some doctors say, "Email is fine," while others say—
"No, I can't be bothered to set up appointments every time. Just call me. If I can meet, I'll meet, and if I can't, I can't."
...Wait, I can call you? (laughs) Some doctors are like that.
There were also doctors who said, "I've been checking my mobile phone a lot lately, so contact me on LINE," or "Use SMS."
In other words—there is no such thing as a "correct way to contact someone". All that exists is the "best way to contact that specific doctor."
I went and confirmed this with each and every one of them.
3. Don't ask "when you can meet." Ask "when you can't meet."
And the second thing. This was the most important point.
At first, I used to ask it like this:
"Doctor, when would you be available to meet?"
—And I was consistently told this in response:
"No, there's no way I could know that. I'm busy, so that's impossible."
...I suppose that makes sense. The busier people are, the harder it is to know when you can meet them.
So, I flipped the question around.
“Doctor—then, are there times when you definitely can't meet? Like, times when it's absolutely impossible?”
And what do you think happened then?
Surprisingly, there are. There really are.
“Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday are probably impossible. I have outpatient clinics and the wards are busy, you see.”
—Wait, hold on. If you're busy on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, that means...
“Doctor, then, might you have some relatively free time on Wednesday?”
“Yes, that's right. I only have outpatient clinics in the morning on Wednesdays, so I might be a bit more relaxed in the afternoon.”
—There it is.
On Wednesday afternoon, the doctor spends time for himself. Checking emails, watching videos, and so on.
If that's the case, emails get read on Wednesday. ...So, if I send it late Tuesday night, it will be at the top of the inbox on Wednesday morning.
That is the kind of thing I was doing.
No one knows the “time you can meet.” But everyone knows the “time you can't meet.” And once you know the times you can't meet—the times you can meet emerge by process of elimination.
4. Modest accumulation created a “different level” of results
What I'm doing is incredibly modest, isn't it?
Asking for contact methods. Asking for times when they can't meet. That's all.
But if you do this for everyone, you start to build a “list” for each doctor.
“This doctor can be met on this day at this time.” “If I go on this day, I won't be able to meet them, and even if I did, they'd be in a bad mood.” —I have all of that in my head.
That's why I stopped making wasted trips. I don't go on days when I can't meet them. Just by doing that, even though the number of visits decreased, the probability of being able to meet them skyrocketed.
And there was an even greater effect.
When you act in accordance with the other person's "rhythm of life," the doctor feels this way.
"This guy really understands my schedule."
—It's trust. The accuracy of my appointments became the best in the team by far.
As proof of this, I have an interesting story.
Whenever a high-ranking person like a general manager would accompany me to the field—I was made to handle the attendance every single time.The reason was simple: because with me, they "could get a meeting." It would be a disaster if the general manager came all that way and we ended up empty-handed.
The reason was simple: because with me, they "could get a meeting." It would be a disaster if the general manager came all that way and we ended up empty-handed.
…And here is an embarrassing, honest truth.
Back then, this is what I thought about it:
"Why do they keep dumping this on me every time? Ask someone else. They're getting paid more than me anyway!"
—I was fuming (laughs).
I understand it now. That was the highest form of praise, meaning "your appointment success rate is the best by far." But back then, I didn't realize my own strengths at all, so I only felt like I was being "forced to do it." I hadn't grasped the other person's expectations even one bit.
If you don't realize your strengths,you can't even realize that you are being recognized (tears).
5. It's not the "amount" of effort. It's the "place" where you put your effort.
Now, let me summarize the reveal.
Why did sales go up even though I reduced my working hours?
Because whether or not you make a sale is almost entirely determined by—"how much you thought about it before meeting them," not by how much you moved around.
When I was competing on quantity, it was just exhausting. Waiting endlessly even though I couldn't meet them. Calling endlessly even though I couldn't meet them. It would grow, but only little by little. It was exhausting, but I couldn't stop.
But when I raised the "quality of preparation" for each individual case—I achieved incredible sales with fewer appointments.
That was when I realized it.
I realized I wasn't wrong about the 'amount' of effort I was putting in, but the 'place' where I was putting it., I said.
It's not about how much you try. Where you try matters.
This isn't just about sales. It's the same for work and parenting. The more someone is exhausted by the sheer volume of work, the more they will find relief and achieve results just by changing where they focus their energy.
So, please remember this.
Successful people decide before they even meet.
The battle doesn't start when you meet. It's almost over before you even meet.
6. Are you competing based on 'volume'?
Here is today's question.
In your work, are you currently competing based on 'volume'?
If you find yourself thinking, 'I have to do more,' or 'I have to spend more time,' I want you to imagine something.
What do you think would happen if you poured more than half of that effort into the time 'before you start'?
Before you meet. Before you create. Before you speak.
If you could put half your energy into preparation, how do you think your work would change?
If you'd like, please let me know in the comments. Confessions like 'I'm completely competing on volume...' or sharing your own tricks for 'what you do during the time you can't meet' are all very welcome.
Now—that is my 'success story' up to this point.
But those of you who have been reading this series since the trailer should remember: this story doesn't end as a neat success story.
Actually—this 'way to achieve results efficiently' drags me into a certain pitfall.
The more results I got, the more I accelerated, thinking, 'More, more.'
And beyond that—I end up making the most important person in my life cry.
I'll tell that story next time. Please follow and stay tuned.
Finally.
The free session I offer is where we work together to find where you should focus your efforts.
It is scheduled for 60 minutes, but if you cannot spare that much time, 30 minutes is also fine. If you write "30 minutes" in the notes section when booking, I will put my full effort into those 30 minutes. Please feel free to reach out.
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Thank you for reading until the end today as well.
See you tomorrow in Part 3.