The Power Of "One"

Would you work one extra hour each day if you got paid an extra $28,800.00 per year? Most of us would answer that question with a resounding “YES,” right? Still, most people limit their work day to 8 hours, and in doing so, severely limit their earning ability.

Nearly all successful small business owners work 10-12 hours a day for years to establish their business, and many businesses fail every year because the owners limit their days to 8 hours. Successful business owners understand that 8 hours pays the bills, and anything above that builds wealth.

Okay, let’s get back to the $28,800.00 question. Let’s say you spend one extra hour each day actively prospecting. That means calling on insurance agents, fleet accounts, car lots, and rental agencies. If you do this, you should easily be able to make at least 4 extra prospecting calls per day or 20 per week. With an assumed 5% conversion rate (your conversion rate may vary based on location and skill level) your efforts will produce one new customer per week. Keep in mind that we are talking about customers who will provide repeated business, not just a single repair. If each of those 48 customers provides just 1 job per month at an average of $50.00 per job, you earn an additional $28,800.00 per year.

Now here’s the exciting part. If you do this for 3 years you could be generating an additional $86,400.00 per year, all from your one hour a day of prospecting, and I believe these figures are conservative. Sure, you will eventually lose some of your 48 customers per year, but you will also develop relationships with some of them that will provide you with far more than 1 repair per month.

This principal will provide similar results for any of you involved in commission, or partial commission sales, not just business owners. That extra one hour per day, if spent wisely and actively seeking new business, will provide an amazing return on your time investment.

Can it really be this easy? Make no mistake; there is nothing easy about it. Prospecting is the most difficult part of any business. Most of us just don’t enjoy prospecting, and therefore find many reasons to avoid doing it.

So if you are only willing to work 8 hours per day, and you are satisfied with the money you make, then you are one of the lucky few, but if you find that 8 hours a day barely pays the bills, and you don’t mind putting in a little extra effort, try prospecting for one extra hour a day for the next 12 months. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

-Brent Deines