How much Face Time are you getting?

September 17, 2011
Face time

Face Time as a KPI

“Where observation is concerned, chance favors only the prepared mind” – Louis Pasteur

It turns out that the number one Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for a sales organization is Revenue to Face Time.  In general, the more time a sales person is in front of clients and prospects, the more that person sells. Sales increase because of the sheer number of opportunities, but also because of practice and preparedness. People learn by doing. The more they interact with prospects and clients, the more prepared they are the next time they encounter an unusual situation.

With practice comes polish. It’s no surprise that top performers are usually the ones who practice the most. They not only get good at what they do, they learn how and when to adapt. In his book Creating Minds, Howard Gardner talks about the 10 Year Rule, which was first identified by psychologist John Hayes in 1989. The rule holds that a person must persist with learning and practising a domain or discipline for about 10 years before he or she can make a significant breakthrough.

Practice face time

Howard Gardner Author of Creating Minds

Gardner shows, for example, how Gandhi, Einstein, Freud, Picasso, Elliot, and Stravinsky all took 10 years to make their first major breakthrough. These legends and innovators put in the “face time” in their respective fields.  Their insights might have happened in seconds, but the practice that allowed those insights to happen took years.

Is your sales force rigorously practicing each day in front of customers and prospects?

What are you rigorously practicing every day?

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