"Quickness is the essence of the war."
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Over the course of my career, when interviewing for a new positions, I know there is one true indicator that shows the true nature of the organization: their sense of urgency. In all areas of business, life, warfare, and history the quick survive. Whether it was a caveman running from the T-Rex (I know they didn’t exist at the same time but I love the visual), the gunfighter standing in the middle of town ready to draw or the Top Gun warfighter conserving kinetic energy to win the dogfight, speed and urgency help win the battle and are the essence of any war, including competitive business. The best reps, managers, and executives all know that speed is life in sales. It's an indicator of attitude, culture, and efficiency.
I have always liked to get things done quickly. Maybe it’s my ADD that drives the completion attitude, because I can only focus for so long ;). And patience is not one of my core strengths, but I have learned overtime and through experience, patience can be detrimental in certain realms of business. I can tell you one thing about time: it is one of the most critical aspects of the business and sales cycle, and as they say, "Timing is everything." (not sure who "they" is here, but you get my drift). Sales organizations that are quick and nimble and view time as a resource to conquer and preserve win every time, and those that have a culture of urgency, a true sense of urgency, are more successful than their peers.
“The most successful entrepreneurs not only have courage and imagination, they also have a sense of urgency. They’re not willing to wait. They have a burning desire to get something done.”-
Malcolm Gladwell
That culture of urgency starts with sellers. It is shown over and over through sales statistics and reports that first responders win. Here are some stats below:
The odds of making contact with a lead increased 100 fold if contacted within 5 minutes versus 30 minutes (MIT/InsideSales Lead Response Study)
The chances of qualifying a lead are 21x higher when called within 5 minutes (MIT/InsideSales Lead Response Study).
With web leads, 78% of sales go to the first responder (Harvard Business School Study).
71% of customers say they have made purchases based on experience quality (Salesforce)
As a sales leader, you can create this sense of urgency with your teams, and most good sales people know this mantra. Having the right technology in place and notifications for your inside teams can help to ensure quick notifications and assignment of inbound leads. Metrics and reports can make sure you are hitting target response and call times.
But, as we all know, that same culture of urgency might be lacking in legal, accounting, support and product. Nothing is worse than getting an opportunity with a large target account and having an NDA or terms approval stuck in legal. Or special pricing tied up in approvals. Or that documentation from product/eng for the prospects security review team.
So how do you expand that culture of urgency throughout your organization? I'll save that for another post. Would love your comments, and subscribe for future updates.