Sales Tip: Plan your Day…Work your Plan

Newsletter  Aug. 2009 by John Boyens

The key to time management is to realize that you cannot possibly do everything that there is to do in a day.  Salespeople have to consciously decide what they are going to do with the limited amount of time that they have at their disposal.  Time management helps salespeople:

• Reduce wasted time so they’ll be more productive each day
• Accomplish more with less effort
• Reduce stress and anxiety
• Focus their time and energy on what is most important
• Achieve short-term and long-term goals

Everyone has 24 hours each day and 168 hours each week to eat, sleep, work, relax, exercise and interact with others.  There is nothing magical about getting the most from these hours…it takes planning and implementation. Time management does require self-discipline and control until the behavioral changes are internalized and that new behaviors become an everyday habit. Day Timers, Franklin Planners, Blackberry’s, TREO’s, iPhones and other tools for managing time are useless if one does not utilize them effectively.

Let me start with dispelling a couple of time management myths:

• Reduce wasted time so they’ll be more productive each day
• Accomplish more with less effort
• Reduce stress and anxiety
• Focus their time and energy on what is most important
• Achieve short-term and long-term goals
• Planning my time just takes more time.
• Actually, research shows just the opposite.
• The busier I am, the better I’m using my time.
• If you believe this to be true you may be doing what’s urgent…not what’s important.

Before someone can effectively manage their time they need to know how they spend their time in the first place.  Here’s a great exercise:

1. Write down all the activities in a normal work week
   1. For instance appointments, meetings, generating proposals, making/taking phone calls, reading/sending emails, administrative requirements, etc.
2. Group “like” activities together
   1. For instance sending follow-up letters/emails and documenting customer visits could be grouped under administrative activities
3. Assign a percentage of time spent on each activity
   1. Remember…it can’t add up to more than 100%
4. Pie graph the results
5. Ask yourself…”If my distribution of time does not change will I be able to achieve my personal and professional goals?”

Compare the record of what you have accomplished to what you planned complete in that week.  This difference will be a real eye opener! It will reveal how much you are letting situations, events and other people control your time instead of you being in command of your schedule.

Improving your time management habits takes a concerted effort.  One of the best ways to begin is to set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Rewarding, and Timely) goals.  A good example of a SMART goal for anyone in sales is as follows: “I will increase the number of qualified prospects in my pipeline by 20% within the next 90-days.”

In closing, please allow me to share with you five “tried and true” time saving tips we’ve collected from salespeople and sales leaders from all over the globe:

1. Ask yourself throughout the day: “Is this what I want or need to be doing right now?”
   1. If yes, then keep doing it.
   2. If not, stop the activity.
2. At the end of each day create a “to-do” list for the following day. Mark items as “A” and “B” in priority.
   1. Set aside two hours each morning to do the important “A” items and then do the “B” items in the afternoon.
   2. Let your voice mail take your calls during your “A” time.
3. Empower your co-workers/subordinates to help pick up the slack.
4. Concentrate on doing only one task or activity at a time.
5. Maintain accurate calendars and abide by them.
6. Be serious about prospecting. Block out a minimum of one-hour per day for prospecting or business development activities. If it’s on your schedule it should be in your Blackberry, iPhone or TREO with the rest of you appointments.

The bottom line is this . . . if you don’t stop doing nonproductive activities you’ll never have time to start doing more productive activities!  We all know that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  Take control of the activities that you do on a regular basis and get control of your time!

Utilize the tips in this article to help you become a salesperson that takes control of your personal and professional life and make time work for you!
Management Tip: “Plan for the Success of your Business”