As I jet my way home from an engagement at one of the nation’s preeminent providers of life insurance, I can’t help but reflect on a statement that was made by the Executive Vice President of Sales.
As he addressed the sales organization about the importance of adhering to the newly established criteria for the minimum number of calls his sales team are required to make per week, he reminded the team that Activity breeds Apptivity.
Apptivity.
As in: insurance application activity.
Maybe to you it’s ‘tickets’ or ‘orders’ or ‘widgets’.
Whatever your measuring stick, this is a great expression.
He went on to explain to me privately that this phrase came to him many years ago. It was first spoken by an older, wiser sales leader that admonished his troops that if you put in the required number of appointments (or activity), sales, and other great things, would inevitably happen.
I related to him that I have another, admittedly far out, theory.
You see I believe that there is an old Jewish man, Sol, located in Lebanon, Kansas, the geographic center of the contiguous 48.
Sol’s sole job is to keep score of the number of “no’s” each salesperson gets because Sol knows full well that each “no” means they are that much closer to closing a sale with a delightful “yes” – the phrase all sales professionals work to hear.
Sol’s dashboard keeps track of the activity and accumulated ‘no’s’ for the country’s sales professionals.
Sol is the one who is responsible for flipping the switch that turns the ‘no’ into the ‘yes’.
That EVP believes in Apptivity.
I believe in Sol.
Whatever your belief, make no mistake, activity yields positive results.
Always.