After I had taught this simple process at a sales seminar, a very successful saleswoman came up to me and told me an interesting story. A couple of years earlier, she had decided to get into sales as a last resort. She had no sales experience, but she needed to support herself. She tried for six months to get a sales job with a national company, without success. Finally one of their salespeople quit, so they decided to give her a chance. Within six months, she was the top saleswoman in the country for them. They were amazed.
She said that her secret was simple. She divided her territory into four parts and then disciplined herself to work intensely in one of those four parts each day, four days per week. She disciplined herself not to travel between geographic areas. As a result, she spent more time with prospects, and got better and better at selling. The better she became, the more sales she made and the more referrals she got in the areas where she was concentrating. She eventually became one of the highest-paid professionals in her field in the nation.