James Obermayer, Executive Director and CEO of the Sales Lead Management Association and President of Sales Leakage Consulting is a regular guest blogger with ViewPoint.

Ben Franklin said, “Time lost is never found again.” Yet it isn’t the time lost but the things unaccomplished in that time which become a huge problem for sales and marketing people. Let’s take a look at how this affects Sales and Marketing.

The Principle of the Irreplaceable Past

The reason for setting monthly goals (either sales or marketing quotas) is based on the principle of the irreplaceable past. This principle says that what we fail to do today (make a sale) is lost; it cannot be regained. We replaced what we were supposed to do with some other task; therefore we cannot regain the time to create sales or the sales themselves.

“Making up for it” at a later time doesn’t replace what was lost (opportunity), because time and circumstance were devoted to something else. If, therefore, you do something in the future to replace what you didn’t do today, by its very nature you have stolen from the future. You devoted future resources (time) to something that was supposed to be done today, yesterday, last week or last month. “So what?” you say. “That’s just academic ramblings.”

No, not really. You might eventually reach your goals, but you start to develop the bad habit of always thinking that you can “make up” for what didn’t get accomplished. This habit steals from your total ability to perform in the present. Time is limited and cannot be expanded to make up for what you didn’t do.

Sales Example

Let’s say a sales person has a $50K-a-month quota in January, but sells only $25K worth. He is $25K behind. In February he sells $75K; the $50K quota for February and the additional $25K needed in January. He has caught up, right? Not really.

This looks good on the surface until you realize that if he had sold $50K in January and the $75K in February, instead of breaking even he’d be $25K ahead. Some would even say, that if he could sell $75K in February, he should have been able to do it in January too, which would make him 50% ahead of quota. No doubt he had to work hard in February to make up for the lost dollars in January, but if he had done what he was supposed to do, in the time allotted in January, life would have been easier.

Of course, some prospects don’t buy when you want them to, but that’s what planning and creating a pipeline is all about.  If you plan and have a big enough pipeline, you will not fall into the “lost time” trap.   If your pipeline is meager and you fail to make quota, you have lost both time and money. 

I find that the more intelligent the person, the more they think they can “make up for it later.” This is based on confidence, which is tied to pride.  Pride, we all know, goes before the fall.You may also say that what was not done yesterday was replaced by something more or equally important. That may be true for many things, but it doesn’t work with accomplishing sales or even marketing goals (more about that later). People who attempt to make up for lost quota attainment end up working harder, under more pressure and frustration than those who make their numbers consistently, month to month and on time. They are happier people.

My advice? Insist that salespeople make their numbers the easy way, month after month, one month at a time. They need a pipeline of opportunities to make up for prospects who inconveniently push off their purchase until another month.

Marketing Example

More than ever before, marketers carry quotas to produce a certain number of inquiries and qualified leads. Every month a certain number of people make buying decisions. If your message is visible to them, you may be contacted; if it isn’t, you lose. Yes, B2B average sales cycles are six months or so; BtoC cycles are shorter. But buyers develop their short list quickly. When you postpone advertising, skip going to a show, cancel the pay-for-click, or fail to email your promotion, you opt out of the marketplace for that period of time.

The irreplaceable past principle is as meaningful for Marketing as it is for Sales. If you failed to find sufficient buyers last month, it is unlikely you can make up for it this month. You may be able to increase the number of inquiries and leads, but does it really make up for what you didn’t do last month? More inquirers might be found, but seldom are they the ones you missed last month; those inquirers are in discussions with someone they found (your competitor) when you weren’t in the marketplace.

For instance: If your quota is to create 1,000 inquiries, which includes 450 qualified leads, but you create only 650 inquiries with 300 qualified leads, this is going to impact sales for 12 months. The buyers in the marketplace last month may not be visible or found this month.

If you try to “make up for it” and spend more money in the following month to find, say, 1350 inquiries with 600 qualified leads, several things can happen:

• The salespeople will have more leads than they can handle
• They will ignore the big jump in inquiries and many inquirers will not be called
• Marketing expenses will go up, but not necessarily sales.

Because B2B marketers are undeniably the greatest builders of wealth (hour for hour worked), the Principle of the Irreplaceable Past is important to them, to their company and to the salespeople. Marketers too must be consistent with quotas to avoid sales lead “brownouts.”

Ben Franklin’s words haunt us as we realize that when we lose time, we lose the opportunity to accomplish what we were supposed to within that time; we steal from the future to try and make up for the past.

The only way to beat the clock is to do what you said you’d do when you said you’d do it.