Time Goes Fast and Speeds Up: Mastering the Sales Timeline

Summary

The Advanced Selling Podcast: "Time Goes Fast and Speeds Up: Mastering the Sales Timeline"

Release Date: March 24, 2025

In this engaging episode of The Advanced Selling Podcast, hosts Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale delve into the often-overlooked aspect of time management within the sales profession. Titled "Time Goes Fast and Speeds Up: Mastering the Sales Timeline," the episode offers valuable insights and practical strategies for sales professionals to navigate the accelerating pace of time, especially as sales cycles stretch longer and quarters seemingly fly by.

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1. Introduction and Setting the Stage

The episode kicks off with Bill and Bryan sharing light-hearted banter about their podcast's longevity and recent interactions, including humorous anecdotes about emails from PR firms. This segment sets a relaxed tone, making listeners feel at ease before diving into the episode's core topic.

2. The Accelerating Pace of Time in Sales

Brian Neal (A) introduces the central theme with a relatable observation:

“Time goes fast and speeds up. Time goes fast and speeds up. And nothing is more true than if you're a seller.”
[17:45]

He elaborates on how weeks slip into months, months into quarters, and quarters into years, making it challenging for sales professionals to keep up with their targets. The hosts discuss the common scenario where sales leaders pressure their teams to close deals precipitously as the quarter ends, often disregarding the natural length of sales cycles.

Bill Caskey (B) adds to this by sharing a client scenario:

“If we could get it off the street it would have been in by now. The idea that you're, and it's a six-month selling cycle. If you just start at the end of the, you know, the middle of the month, you're not going to end it by the end of the month.”
[05:56]

This highlights the unrealistic expectations placed on sales teams when time feels like it's slipping away uncontrollably.

3. Reframing Time Horizons

The hosts emphasize the necessity of reframing time horizons to better manage sales activities. Instead of focusing solely on the immediate week, they advocate for broadening the perspective to include monthly and seasonal planning.

Brian Neal (A) states:

“You really need to start to reframe your time horizons... What does my month look like? What does April look like for you?... It's taking them 50 years.”
[07:18]

By doing so, sales professionals can anticipate personal and market-related events (like vacations or holidays) that might impact sales momentum and adjust their strategies accordingly.

4. Strategic Planning Across Quarters

Bill Caskey (B) offers tactical advice on planning:

“When you plan April,... try to think about June, July, and August. That may sound far away, but it's really not.”
[09:05]

He suggests allocating specific time to strategize for future months, ensuring that high-impact activities are scheduled ahead of time. For instance, planning webinars or marketing initiatives well in advance helps maintain steady sales momentum without last-minute scrambles.

5. The Importance of Giving to Receive

A pivotal part of the discussion revolves around Ralph Waldo Emerson's law of compensation:

“You want to make more money, you got to give more to the marketplace.”
[13:06]

Bill explains that instead of fixating on how to recover lost sales, salespeople should focus on providing value to their clients and the marketplace. This approach fosters goodwill and reciprocity, which can organically lead to increased sales.

Brian Neal (A) reinforces this with a real-world example:

“He was giving away a certain fixed number of free smoothies for a year... creating buzz and now it sustains.”
[14:03]

This illustrates how giving freebies or providing exceptional value can generate long-term customer loyalty and sustained sales growth.

6. Practical Examples and Anecdotes

Throughout the episode, Bill and Bryan pepper their discussion with practical examples and personal anecdotes that bring the concepts to life.

• Free Offerings to Build Demand: Brian shares a story about a franchise owner who successfully built his business by offering free smoothies, which created substantial buzz and customer loyalty.
  [14:51]

• Training for Testimonials: Bill suggests training a few companies for free in exchange for testimonials or referrals, emphasizing that many will continue as paying customers once they experience the value firsthand.
  [15:24]

• Speaking for Free to Grow a Business: Brian advises a young keynote speaker to offer free speeches to build credibility and eventually secure paid engagements.
  [16:04]

  “You go give as many speeches as you can for free... getting 10, 15, 20, 40, 50, 80, $100,000 down the road.”
  [16:35]

7. Conclusions and Takeaways

As the episode wraps up, Bill and Bryan reiterate the key strategies discussed:

• Plan Ahead: Allocate dedicated time each week to plan not just for the immediate future but for upcoming months to stay ahead of the sales cycle.

• Adopt a Giving Mindset: Focus on providing value to clients and the marketplace to foster trust and reciprocity, leading to sustained sales growth.

• Create Momentum: Start small with actionable steps towards long-term goals, building momentum that propels continued success.

Bill Caskey (B) concludes with a motivational reminder:

“Don’t be afraid to give some stuff away... What do you need to give to get the 900 grand back?”
[17:32]

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Key Quotes from the Episode

• Brian Neal (A): “Time goes fast and speeds up. Time goes fast and speeds up. And nothing is more true than if you're a seller.”
  [17:45]

• Bill Caskey (B): “If we could get it off the street it would have been in by now. The idea that you're, and it's a six-month selling cycle.”
  [05:56]

• Bryan Neale (A): “You really need to start to reframe your time horizons... What does my month look like? What does April look like for you?”
  [07:18]

• Bill Caskey (B): “When you plan April,... try to think about June, July, and August. That may sound far away, but it's really not.”
  [09:05]

• Bryan Neale (B): “You want to make more money, you got to give more to the marketplace.”
  [13:06]

• Bryan Neale (B): “We might have to give 2 million to get the 900 grand back.”
  [15:24]

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Final Thoughts

This episode of The Advanced Selling Podcast offers a comprehensive look at managing the relentless pace of time in sales environments. By advocating for strategic planning, a generous approach to client interactions, and building momentum through incremental actions, Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale provide actionable advice that can help sales professionals not only keep up with but thrive amidst the accelerating timeline pressures. Whether you're a seasoned salesperson or new to the field, the strategies discussed in this episode are invaluable for achieving sustained sales success.

For more insights and ongoing training, listeners are encouraged to join the podcast's LinkedIn group or become a member of the Insider program at advanced selling podcast.com Insider.

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End of Summary

Transcript

[A]

Foreign. Welcome, everybody, to the Advanced Selling Podcast, the longest running sales training podcast in the history of podcasting. My name is Brian Neal.

[B]

My name is Bill Cask.

[A]

Here every week for your listening enjoyment. If you've not done so already. Two places to go, check out our LinkedIn group, Advanced Selling Podcast group on LinkedIn. 14,000 or so people in there. And then if you're not a member of the Insider, you know, we talk about it all the time and you're still sitting there going, oh, yeah, I gotta do that. I gotta just do it. Just do it. First Friday of every month, live training, my friend Bill, everyone.

[B]

On our next episode, I'll tell you what we've got in store for April because it might be. Might be interesting. You know, I was messing around on Google the other day and I was. I don't know what, whether I was looking up podcast maybe looking up how to grow a podcast. I don't know what it was, but you know how it gives you some questions down below the search.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And it just, it opened up and one of the questions was, what's the longest running sales training podcast?

[A]

No, it was not.

[B]

Word of God. It was. I.

[A]

Was it us?

[B]

Yeah. Oh, good. The answer, the Google answer was advanced selling podcast.

[A]

People are fact checking our claim.

[B]

Well, I'm thinking, well, maybe it's now transcribing it. So it's like we've said it 700 times. Must be.

[A]

So you win the AI game.

[B]

Right?

[A]

Feed it yourself.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

It gets us. Oh, it's too funny. Too funny.

[B]

So speaking of podcast, and you know, we have laughed about people who want to be on the Advanced Selling podcast. Yes. You know, we don't let too many people on. It's just, it always feels like when someone reaches out to us, it's. It's kind of a game. I know it's the pr, but I got one today from a PR firm and I thought it was really, really well done. The subject line was really well done. So I'll. I don't know if you can see it here.

[A]

He view here. He view here, here, here.

[B]

And okay. He view. Have you.

[A]

Have you.

[B]

Have you.

[A]

Have you heard?

[B]

Have you heard?

[A]

You hear?

[B]

But it was not.

[A]

None of it makes sense.

[B]

And then it says your. Your. Hi, Bill, exclamation point. Your latest episode really got me hooked.

[A]

Got me hooked.

[B]

Did you see that one? Or do you.

[A]

No, no. But they're all the same.

[B]

Especially when you broke down those five principles of blah, blah, blah.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Inspired me to think about How I could bring some fun stories to your listener as a best selling author of the B2B. And then he went on to talk about. But yeah, yeah. Are these AI written?

[A]

I don't know. Does Rogan get these? You know what I mean? I just don't understand the process. It's like, I don't know.

[B]

Yeah, let's wait for the day when Rogan. Rogan says, you know, you're on here today, Phillip, because I got an email from your PR firm as soon as.

[A]

I saw heave you here. I'm like, we got to get this guy on. I mean, he view here, he's there, he view everywhere. He view. What does it mean? I'm gonna throw you. Is that what it means? A heave? Is that an actual heave? Oh, yeah, yeah. There's just so much and it's so easy. You and I are just lay downs for fun facts. Like if you go to our, our linkedins, just be. There's so many things to work with. You don't even have to try. Instead of sending generic automated messages.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Can I give you an old man thing real quick? Just because it's happening in real time? Yeah, sure. So kind of a little bit, little, you know, rush around more than I went to on Friday, got some stuff going on today and came in from my car. I'm like, damn it. Forgot my glasses. And I wanted to see because I watched the video up there. So I've been looking for my glasses here for about the last 20 minutes here in the office. And I'm like, I gotta get on for Bill, do you happen to see my glasses? Bill, do you happen to see them? They're actually right here.

[B]

There we go.

[A]

So anyways, listening to this, I just found my glass. I look for 20 minutes they've been hanging off my screen. You know how I noticed them? I've looked at the thing, I looked at the camera here. Shoot, my glasses are right there going.

[B]

I do that. I. I'll do that all the time.

[A]

It's crazy.

[B]

And my wife, she sometimes she'll go in the car. Oh my God, my phone. My phone. Where's my phone? Where's my phone? My phone. Have you seen my phone? I'm like, well, is it in your purse? No. And whenever they just say no and don't check. That's what it is.

[A]

Where it is. Yeah.

[B]

So she runs back, that's where it was. Oh, yeah, I can't find it. Look in your purse. Oh, here it is.

[A]

My wife has a Little thing on her phone where she presses it and the phone beeps so she can find it. And it's the watch, the watch thing. Yeah.

[B]

Typically she does.

[A]

Typically near her.

[B]

That would be good.

[A]

All right. I'll tell you this. So there's a little cheeky phrase that I like and I've known to be true especially the older I get. And the phrase is this. Time goes fast and speeds up. Time goes fast and speeds up. And nothing is more true than if you're a seller. As the weeks turn into months, months turn into quarters, quarters turns into years. Time goes fast and speeds up and the quarter is over. Here we are. The quarter's over and the second quarter you think is about to begin. But the second quarter began two months ago in January. It already started and you're behind and your sales leader is the last week of the quarter bill. So what do we got? Let's see. We can get closed in this quarter. I'm just chasing the end of the quarter and it's just going to keep going faster as it goes on. Then you're going to hit the little summer slump. Fourth of July week, everyone's gone, blah blah, blah. Then it's going to be August, everyone's on vacation. Then all of a sudden the fourth quarter's here and the year's over.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Who have a very time compressed job in as sellers. So let's talk a little bit about what to do as a seller with this speeding up of time and how managers deal with it now. Maybe how they should deal with it.

[B]

Okay. That's a great topic.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I had a, you just kind of called it out. We talked in the pre show about I've got a client who is their top salesperson. And, and the manager called him in a couple days ago. Here we are a week, a week from the end or eight days from the end and said look, we gotta, you know, we're, we're struggling in this quarter. We gotta, gotta make things happen. Can we get some of this stuff off the street? And my, my client looks at him and says if we could get it off the street it would have been in by now. The idea that you're, and it's a, it's a six month selling cycle. This, this company's in. So if you just start at the end of the, you know, the middle of the month, you're not going to end it by the end of the month. You're just not going to get it in. And so we talked about how today it used to be that you could rely on a 30 day kind of thing in certain businesses. But now I think it's stretched. It's. It's 90 days now. You're going to happen upon a bluebird here or there, like we say. Yep. But most of the time right now in March, you're planning July.

[A]

Yes. Yes.

[B]

Doesn't mean ignore that.

[A]

Right? Yeah. It's so true. And so the, the first thing that I think of when I think of this, if you're listening to this, is you really need to start to reframe your time horizons. And most of you, I can almost guarantee you today's Friday, the day we're filming this or shooting this or whatever we're doing. Filming, recording.

[B]

This is what I was looking for.

[A]

Big movie set now. And that is you'll wrap the week. You might take a peek at next week today maybe you might take a peek Sunday night at next week or Monday morning. And you're likely not going to look past next week is what people do. And that's part of the problem, is that your mindset and your behavior is in the week, for the week. So the first thing that I think we need to get better at is to stretch our normal look of the time horizon to say, what does my month look like? What does April look like for you? I just did this, what we're talking about through the end of the summer. And what you start to see is like, okay, I've got a family vacation with my wife's family. I've got a family vacation with my parents. My wife and I are going on a little trip. These are just taking days away from my productivity. And then it's 4th of July. Then my football. I'm like, dang, okay, yeah, I got three days. Like, what am I gonna do? But it, but it really helps you frame up to say, okay, or we've got like an event coming up in July. We think, oh my gosh, we've got. It's July.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

It doesn't matter. We've got to sell things into that program now in March. Just what you said, Bill. You're, you're selling July and March. But what most people are doing is. And the managers are the worst, aren't they? What can we get off the street? That, what you said is just so. I'm like, what are we doing, guys? It's so bad.

[B]

What do we need to do to get this in, to get this in house?

[A]

And it's like there's some sort of magic answer. Well, let's, let's Call them.

[B]

I could just. Just give him that one line that you used last year.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So as you. As you plan April. And this is. Maybe we get tactically.

[A]

Yeah, for sure.

[B]

When you. When you plan April, I know we're all going to do things that need to happen in April. Like, you know, maybe there's some meetings that you want to execute in April that have been teed up in March. So you want to get those done. But make sure that you spend part of your planning in April on July, June, July and August.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And that may sound. You may sound like it sounds so far away. Well, it's number one, like you said. It's really not number two. You don't have a lot of days to get there. Okay, let's do. Maybe you plan May instead of making it June, July, August, make it May. But think far enough ahead that you're thinking about what can I do in April to make May, June, and July a piece of cake.

[A]

Yes, that's. That's the trick. Because you're going to work. We already know you're already working the week for the week. So we get that part that what we're recommending is you. You set aside time to work on the June, July, August stuff. Now there's another element that popped into my head. What was it? This is what we do when we record on Fridays. We forget our things as we look forward. Don't. I forgot. I was gonna say something about looking forward.

[B]

Anyway, drugs have finally got exactly.

[A]

I don't know what's going on today.

[B]

All these years.

[A]

Keep talking. Yeah, yeah. They're finally.

[B]

All that math finally hit.

[A]

It's finally. Still a little left in the bloodstream.

[B]

Good.

[A]

I'll think about it later.

[B]

It'll come to you. But it will after we're done.

[A]

Totally. As soon as we're done recording.

[B]

Yeah. So. But I like the idea of. So here we are. We're heading into last week. So the last week of March. This is going to be released on March. The Monday, March. Whatever. 24th or 6th or whatever.

[A]

24Th.

[B]

Yeah. Just be thinking. Okay, I'm going to be planning April, so take four hours out of your week. Yes, that's right. Four hours.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And plan April and May. But don't forget to plan June and July. At least a couple of things. Like maybe you're going to be doing a webinar. You don't want to do it in April because of spring break. And maybe it's just not the right time. But plan it for June and plan it meaning put a date. Put it in the date. Go to zoom. Get it, get it fixed in zoom. Yes. Think about the title. Start to outline it. Do 20 minutes worth of work on the webinar. I'm just using this as example. 20 minutes worth of work. And now it started. Now there's some velocity and momentum. So when you go back to it in three or four days, you feel like, oh, man, all I got to do now is do D, E and F and I'm done. I got this thing nailed. So you'll. You'll be surprised at how much momentum you can build if you just start to build the plan.

[A]

That's that part I love. I love the idea of creating. You're creating momentum toward June, July, August. You're not like completing June, July, August. Oh, I remember what I was going to say. Correct. I knew it would come back.

[B]

It would come back.

[A]

If you look at your quarter and you are behind. I just had a client that's just happened there. They're going to wind up. Let's just do easy math. So they're nine. They're gonna. Let's for easy math, I'll say they're gonna wind up $900,000 in the hole after Q1. So now they've got nine months left to make up 900 grand to close the gap and still do what they will do in the other. Right. Here's the mistake that people make. They try to make all 900 up in the next quarter and then they go out with sense of desperation, with over neediness, with, you know, maybe trying to like discount to get volume or whatever it is. You don't need to make it all up in the same month, the same quarter. Take the 900 grand, spread it across the rest of the year and work to make up a hundred grand per month. That's what I was trying to find.

[B]

Earlier that I. Yeah, that's good. That's good. Yeah, we do that. Well, we lost it in one quarter.

[A]

We'll make it, get it all back. Got to get back on track. And he's going, what do you think about this?

[B]

Because I'm always interested in different ways to look at these things. So there's a Emerson, Ralph Waldo, that version.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Published his laws of compensation. And we've talked about it before, and one of his laws of compensation is you want more, give more. You want more, give more. And it's the ultimate law of compensation that if you want to make more money, you got to give. Got to give more to the marketplace.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I think sometimes what we do is we, we, we say, well, we're 900 grand behind. How are we going to go out to the marketplace and get that 900 grand instead of saying, what do we need to give our market? Give our marketplace so that the marketplace will in turn reciprocate and hand us $900,000? I don't think we go about it that way usually.

[A]

No, it's really, really, really good. I just saw a little article on LinkedIn. I don't know this guy who opened up a tropical cafe, smoothie cafe here in our hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana, and he was doing his. It's a franchise, you know, it's smoothie. Yeah. Acai bowls. How do you say that? Acai asai. It's always interesting. Where was that?

[B]

But I'm from Indiana, so I know.

[A]

And then I'm always wondering to one more aside on that one is where, where were I Sai berries when we were kids? Out of nowhere, like, okay, we finally got them. You know, it's taking them 50 years.

[B]

To grow, 20 years to grow.

[A]

Now what we're gonna do is freeze them and put them into smoothies and pretend they're healthy for you.

[B]

Where were nut allergies? I never knew anybody that had one. Now we got nobody. The dirt muscles all over the place.

[A]

Oh, that's funny.

[B]

Epidurals.

[A]

But he said in his. He was just kind of giving a recap of the year and he talked about one of the things they did was when they first opened for their grand opening, they gave away a certain fixed number of free smoothies for a year. One a week for a year. And they had people camping out for their free smoothies.

[B]

Buying, Buying smoothies.

[A]

Buying smoothies. Right. Well, but the point is, you know, you. He's giving away stuff to create some demand for his, for his thing, which I'm like, that's great. So exactly what you said. Because you're right. We instantly. So another way to open up a brand new franchise is like, we got to start fast. Let's get as many people in the door and sell as many smoothies as you can. He took the approach like, no, no, I'm gonna give first. And then that creates buzz and now it sustains. I love that idea of what are we gonna give to get the 900 grand back? Not.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

We go get it all. Everybody does.

[B]

We might have to give 2 million.

[A]

Yes, yes.

[B]

To get the 900 grand back. And maybe your, your business is not set up that way. But like, if I Wanted. If I got dumped in a city of Dallas and I wanted to start the business over, I would probably find five companies that I, I would train for free for 90 days.

[A]

Oh my gosh.

[B]

And then get, get testimonials or get referrals, and probably three of those five are going to continue. You're going to say, I don't want to stop now. So giving away it. For some reason, we get this idea that giving away is a, is a negative. It's not. Especially if you're doing it with the intention of helping somebody grow or helping them get familiar with your products, your smoothies, they're coming back, they are bad. It will add product. You're going to be out of business anyway.

[A]

You know, tell everybody and they'll bring their friends who will pay for theirs, because you're the only one with freebies, you know, friends in here with this free deal. I love this concept of, of the give. I had a young person who's trying to build a keynote speaking business shot me a text asking for some advice and talked about, you know, he, he has some opportunities, he wants to like, you know, stamp the thing and he's going to hold his ground on the time of speaking. The only one to speak 15, he wants to speak 45. And he's got to pay. And I'm like, to pay to be.

[B]

On pay the stage or.

[A]

No, he, they're gonna pay him. He's like, no, I'm not. You know, I'm like, no, you go give as many speeches as you can for free. And if they ask you to speak for four minutes, you say thank you and speak for four minutes. Because that's how you go from that to getting 10, 15, 20, 40, 50, 80, $100,000 down the road.

[B]

Right.

[A]

I'm speaking for free tonight. I'm doing a free speech actually for your people, Bill. Carmel. Carmel Police Department banquet. Yeah, give a little 15 minute talk. Some guy. Oh, cool, let me talk. I'm like, oh, those are, those are gifts. I said, yeah, servants. No, they know. He knew that. He's like, look, I know you do this for a living. I'm like, no, dude, no. Schools, churches, referee groups, public servants, freebie, no problem. Yeah, buy me dinner. It's great.

[B]

Well, sorry we can't have that in our budget.

[A]

I mean, most listeners don't know a lot about what they would say Carmel, Indiana. But we say Carmel. There's plenty of.

[B]

So the lesson there is don't be afraid to give some stuff away.

[A]

No, some stuff I'll Say it correctly.

[B]

Truth. Don't be afraid. And again, back to this. What do you need to give to get the 900 grand? And that puts us in a giving mode.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And a spirit and a grateful, gracious mode, a generous mode. And I think then you show up with the right vibe.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

You don't show up with a desperate vibe.

[A]

That's great. And if you start planning to tie it all back together, what are you going to give? Like Bill mentioned, I'm going to do a webinar in June. I'm going to do a free meetup in July. I'm going to do this, you know, I'm going to go talk to this entrepreneurial group for, like, budding young entrepreneurs in August. Those are gives, and you put those in the county. Work ahead. And then this stuff just starts to happen.

[B]

It's good.

[A]

Really, really good.

[B]

All right. If you're interested in the Insider program, advanced sellingpodcast.com Insider, we gather once a month for about an hour and 15 minutes. We had an awesome session last month. When you join, you get the prior three months of recordings, too, so. And if you go to advanced selling podcast.com Insider, all of the events, the curriculum for the rest of the year are on there. So check out April and we'll be talking more about that.

[A]

Bravo. See you next time.