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Each week, even for daily newspaper salespeople, there are going to be the two or three "lost" days before major deadlines where you have little time to do anything else but pick up ads from existing advertisers. To make any serious money, you've got to learn how to minimize these non-selling activities.

For example, make sure each existing advertiser has his information for this week's ad ready when he says it will be. If proofs are time consuming, try only offering proofs for new accounts before they learn to trust you or with accounts where problems always seem to arise. Use email and the fax machine whenever possible. Plan out your route on these days carefully and you'll free up hours for more productive things, like finding new business.

And try to encourage your advertisers not to make major changes in their ads from week to week. After all, different people are in the market for an advertiser's product or services each week. They won't get bored with the ad if it's the first time they've really looked at it.

After the ads run, I remember salespeople spending a whole other day dropping off newspapers to advertisers whose ad appeared in the issue. Again, try to keep this to a minimum or combine it with something else you have to do with the account, like prepare the next ad. Usually, after the big deadline days are over, you have a day or two to catch your breath. In fact, some people like to do mindless activities like dropping off papers for a day just to give themselves a break. Don't do it.

You should be spending at least a full day each week trying to generate new business and if you're in a territory where there's very little business coming in, you should be spending almost all your time cold calling. When I sold advertising, above anything else I did in a day, I made sure I came back with information from at least one new account for which I'd develop a presentation, including a spec ad. That way, I'd know that if I ended up closing half or even a quarter of these people, I'd have new business coming in each week to replace those that would inevitably drop out.

You might want to ask your manager about what is expected of you in this area. Some will help you organize your time by asking you to write down the things you did each day on call reports. Other newspapers check to see if you're doing spec ads consistently each week, and others just tell you to make your goals and don't care what you do each week as long as you make them.

In all cases, if you cold call consistently, even when things are going good and you might not feel like it, you should rarely feel the pressure of being at the end of month and not being near your goal. Another thing to think about is how early you get out on the road and when you return. I once was a salesperson working for a publisher who, as most of them do, would go nuts if he saw salespeople in the office after 10 am. In fact, he once came up to us and said "Look, I don't care where you go, just get out on the road and out of this office." Although most ad managers and publishers would rather see you in your territory, most of them know that if you're sitting in the office, unless you're an inside salesperson, you're not selling.

So the night before, look though your competitors' publications, find your prospects, plan your day, and then get out on the road early. The advantage you'll have is that the businesses will most likely be less busy with customers the earlier you get there, and you'll have more time to talk.

I'd also recommend staying out in the territory as long as possible. Sales experts agree that the hours of 9 to 5 should be spent selling, not back in the office processing paperwork. That's for when your accounts are closed. That means that the better sales reps will spend 5 pm to 7 pm creating ad strategies and processing paperwork. Stick around one night until everyone leaves and I bet you'll find a rep or two who stays well after 6 pm.

Now, this is not to say that you can't succeed by working normal hours. There are many reps who have become extremely efficient over the years and can process huge quantities a paperwork very quickly and get home at a very reasonable hour. Others, who aren't as fast but still want a life might bring some things home to do there. And others simply return back to the office earlier each night, cutting into their selling time but getting home on time as well.

At first, before you get proficient with the paperwork and while you're spending almost all your time making cold calls and spec ads, you might find yourself working some longer hours. However, the nice thing about selling advertising is that you can usually arrange your time however you find is best for you. Some of my best salespeople had to drop of kids at day care in the morning, pick them up and drop them off at a sitters house in the afternoon, and pick them up again later that afternoon. If you find you're in a situation like this, it's even more important that you cut out any time wasters during the day and keep cold calling consistently to avoid any desperate crunch situations.

And remember, keep prospecting every day in addition to all the other things you may need to do.

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