Great Sales Habits - Waking Up Early

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Today is Monday - and with that, we’re starting up the 6th full work week of 2008.

Over the weekend, I came across an older post by Dave Cheong on his personal blog. While Dave is a software engineer, his productivity tips apply to most of us in the sales profession as well.

In his post, Dave talked about how waking up early has made a huge difference in his life. I can see how that could easily be the case for him. But when you think about it, it really could apply to us too.

In sales, where we’re sometimes away from the office for days or weeks, it’s very easy to fall back to unproductive habits. The habit of going to bed late, for instance. And related to that, the habit of just waking up a bit later in the morning than we should.

With your management a couple of hundred miles or a timezone away or no one in your office to check up on you, who is going to notice - right

Well, someone will.

For starters YOU will. In your commission check or incoming revenue at the end of the month. Perhaps followed by an uncomfortable 1:1 with your manager, a conversation with your spouse or whoever else that has a stake in your business and financial success.

Quiet, early mornings are a great way to start your day. Have a cup of coffee, check your email, get some lingering items out of the way so you can work on the activities that make you money during work hours. Or did you think your customers and competitors are sleeping in as well?

Working from home isn’t easy and it requires a pretty good amount of self-discipline for it to work. Read Dave’s post and put some of his suggestions to work every day. I particularly like #13, try that one with some of your peers. I think it’ll pay off in spades.

Any other habits worth sharing? Post them in the comments!