My first ever sales job I wasn't allowed a computer.

I was working as an estate agent. I was 18 years old. All I was allowed was a pen, a pad of paper, some applicant cards and a phone on my desk.

I worked for the largest agency in the country and this policy was deployed in every single office.

Why?

Because the company wanted their sales staff focused on one thing. The customer.

It did not matter if it was inbound walk-ins or outbound calls. The screen was seen as a barrier between the salesperson and the person buying.

And that is the way it should be.

Your CRM is a Distraction

In modern sales training, we see a massive problem.

Far too many salespeople spend way too much time making their CRM look pretty. They play around with every little new widget HubSpot throws at them. They color code their calendars.

But your CRM is a distraction.

It gives you a false sense of productivity. You feel like you are working because you are clicking buttons but you are not actually selling anything.

This is a trap we discussed in The Always On Sales Myth. "Busyness" is not business.

If you are looking at a screen you are not listening to the prospect.

The Analog Method

If you run a sales team and have cold calling blocks you need to be radical.

Print out your lists. Lock the laptops away in a cupboard. Charge your phone and get your head down.

I see reps spending five minutes between calls mucking around in HubSpot pretending to be productive. They type out long notes like "No answer try again in a week."

Just stop it.

Call one after the other. If one doesn't answer you get onto the next immediately.

Conversations can be written in pen just like the old days. You can update the CRM later during admin time.

During call time you call.

Putting in the Reps

We enforce this in our SDR Sales Training.

When you remove the screen you remove the hesitation. You remove the ability to "research" for ten minutes before dialling, which is just procrastination in disguise.

Only get your laptop out to send a calendar invite once the meeting is booked.

Cold calling is not easy. It is even harder if you are not really putting in the reps.

We proved that volume and consistency win in our Cold Calling Case Study. You cannot get that volume if you are glued to a monitor.

If you want your team to actually hit their numbers for the quarter try taking their computers away for an hour a day.

You might be surprised at how much clearer the conversations become.