How to stop wasting time in sales and start doing more business

Everything on this site comes back to one idea my dad gave me on a phone call in August. You can always go make more money. Nobody has figured out how to make more time. So the only thing worth building is a system that gives time back.

That sounds like a slogan. It is actually a set of rules, and every one of them is measured. Here they are, with the numbers, including the ones that made my own reported results go down.

The four rules, and what they cost

1. 01

   Cap the touches

   Ten calls or five emails per lead. After that, unless the person talked to us, they are off the list and into nurture with a date. Twenty touches per client per day. No live prospect goes more than three days untouched, because the dial view sorts the coldest lead to the top.

   My words when I set it, and I stand by them: so we don't waste our time.

   screenshot: time-cap

   Real screenshot goes hereThe dial view: the cap condition and the oldest-first sort

2. 02

   Count only real conversations

   A qualified conversation is the decision maker on the line, 60 seconds or more of two-way, the pitch delivered, and something to relay: a question, a next step, a meeting, or a clear no with the reason. Voicemail, gatekeeper, wrong number, under 60 seconds: an attempt.

   When I applied that bar to my own book, the count dropped about 60 percent. One client went 17 to 7. Another 157 to 61. Another 91 to 33. Those were the honest numbers all along. One client's rate actually went up, 15 percent instead of 9, because the phone menus had been diluting it.

   screenshot: time-count

   Real screenshot goes hereThe outcome column: QUALIFIED or ATTEMPT, with talk time beside each

3. 03

   Dial when people answer

   Thirty days, 12,428 dials, counted on the honest bar. Everyone dials at ten. It is the worst hour on my board.

   Hour (prospect's local)	Rate	Volume
   5am	1.8%
   6am	1.9%	481 dials, 9 conversations
   7am	1.6%
   8am to 10am	0.7 to 0.9%	1,552 dials into 10am, 13 conversations
   2pm	0.7 to 0.9%	the afternoon floor

   The floor is exactly where the volume sits. The bug that hides this: counting a 60-second voicemail as a conversation flips the whole table.

   screenshot: time-hours

   Real screenshot goes hereThe hour-of-day table with dials, conversations and rate

4. 04

   Bring every call back to time

   Off every call card: "do you have someone for this?" That question hands the incumbent the exit. On every card instead: "so how do we get this to actually help you?" The opener is straight: I'm going to be straight with you, this is a cold call. I'm not going to read you a script. Can I take half a minute and have a real conversation with you?

   Then the time close after the pitch, with the one line about what they stop spending time on. The only two numbers allowed on a card are ones I can prove: 62 minutes a day per person for one client, 18 months to under 90 days for another.

   screenshot: time-card

   Real screenshot goes hereA call card: the opener, the help question, the time close

5. 05

   Automate everything that is not a call

   The loop reads the inbox every 10 minutes and drafts. Owed replies get found every minute. The show-rate desk confirms at 48 hours and reminds at 3 and 1. The post-call note writes itself from the transcript. On Sunday a learn pass reads what I edited before sending and writes the rule. All of it drafts, none of it sends.

   The loop is the easy part. The hard part is the two to three thousand dials behind a hundred real conversations, and no prompt makes those.

   screenshot: time-jobs

   Real screenshot goes hereThe jobs table: ten jobs, cadence, model

6. 06

   Price the unit you count

   The book runs about 72 dials per qualified conversation: 2,438 dials, 181 connects, 34 qualified in one week across every client. So the price is per conversation, not per meeting. $100 each, in packs of 25, 50 or 100, paid upfront, and I keep dialing at my own cost until every one is delivered.

   Meetings are never promised, because how many book is a function of your offer, not my dialing.

   screenshot: time-price

   Real screenshot goes hereThe pricing block: 25, 50, 100 at $100 a conversation

Run this today

1. Write the cap into your CRM view today: 10 calls or 5 emails unless two-way.
2. Re-count last month's conversations on the 60-second, decision-maker bar. Accept the number.
3. Move one hour of dialing from 10am to 6am in the prospect's timezone. Measure for two weeks.
4. Take "do you have someone for this?" off every card. Put the help question on.
5. Pick one job to automate. The loop. Text me for the prompt.
6. Ban "checking in" and "not heard back" from every follow-up.
7. Price what you count. If you count conversations, charge for conversations.

HOUR (prospect's local)   RATE        NOTE
5am                       1.8%
6am                       1.9%        481 dials -> 9 conversations
7am                       1.6%
8am to 10am               0.7-0.9%    1,552 dials into 10am -> 13 conversations
2pm                       0.7-0.9%    the afternoon floor
30 days, 12,428 dials, qualified conversations only.

QUALIFIED CONVERSATION = all four:
  [ ] the decision maker, not a gatekeeper
  [ ] 60 seconds or more of two-way
  [ ] the pitch delivered
  [ ] something to relay: a question, a next step, a meeting, or a no with the reason
Everything else is an attempt: voicemail, phone menu, wrong number, under 60 seconds.
The book: 2,438 dials -> 181 connects -> 34 qualified in one week. About 72 dials each.