Whether you're selling on the road, selling over the telephone, or standing behind the counter in a retail operation, the one thing you never have enough of, apart from money, is time. There is just not enough time in a day to do all the things we need to get done and that's why time management skills are critical if salespeople are to succeed.
Unfortunately salespeople and time management go together about as well as oil and water - they just don't mix. It's not that we don't want to be better time managers, it's just not in our genes. I suspect our inability to embrace time management techniques is a birth defect that afflicts most dynamic salespeople. Fortunately, being genetically disorganized is not terminal and there are things we can do to improve our ability to get more done in less time and with less resources than most other mortals.
Most successful salespeople are the ones who make the best use of their time, are the most organized, and struggle to stay organized each day. Time management is not a problem, it's an opportunity. An opportunity to organize yourself to have the time you need to do your job and to do the things you should and want to be doing, from a business, family, and personal point of view
1: Have a To-Do list and prioritize your daily work.
This a major principle of effective time management that you should regularly follow. Use the "ABC" system. "A" is for the must do tasks, "B" is for the should do tasks, and "C" is for the do-if-you've-got-the-time tasks. Make up tomorrow's list today. Review tomorrow's list before quitting for the day. You'll find that you sleep better knowing what you are to do first thing in the morning.
If your workload is such that daily to-do lists are inappropriate, consider a weekly list. The danger of a weekly list is that most salespeople tend to pack the five days with seven days worth of activities. Only plan three or four days worth of tasks, the remaining one or two days will fill up naturally with tasks that appear out of nowhere.
2: Prepare for and group outgoing telephone calls.
Consider allocating a certain period of time at the end of the morning and afternoon to make outgoing calls. Then prepare your messages and be brief. Preparation and brevity are the best ways to make effective use of the telephone. If you're consistent with this policy, others can tell callers when you are likely to call them back. You'll create the impression of being organized and efficient.
Another excellent technique is to set a call objective before you pick up the telephone. By having a focus before you initiate the call, you get to the point quicker and off the line sooner.
3: Monitor and analyze your time usage.
Try keeping a time log for a week or two. Record all the major activities you engage in during that period of time. Analyze the data to uncover the time wasters. Watch for how much time you spend traveling versus how much time you spend conducting business. Do this once a year and watch your productivity skyrocket.
4: Set aside some time for creative thinking.
You can do this while commuting, in between meetings, or for a short period at a scheduled time each day. When you're traveling alone in your vehicle, turn off the radio and turn on your mind. It will improve your creative capacity and will help you be innovative in your planning, scheduling, and business activities.
If you've got a tough sales problem that's causing you grief, try letting your subconscious mind solve it for you. Think about the situation, briefly, before going to sleep. Often you'll wake up in the morning with a solution. I call this creative sleeping.
5: When planning, allow time for interruptions or emergencies.
No matter how well you plan, the unexpected (problems, delays, etc.) will arise. There's no use trying to pack five pounds of sand into a two pound bag. If you plan too tightly, the unexpected will throw your entire schedule off. Expect (and plan for) the unexpected! Leaving some breathing space in your schedule means that you can more readily cope with business emergencies.
6: Be brief on incoming telephone calls.
Be polite, tactful, and helpful, but be brief. Avoid wasteful and unnecessary conversation. Remember, socializing is not selling! Verbal pleasantries pave the way to do business, they don't produce business. Keep your calls pleasant and to the point.
Try this technique if you're faced with an overly talkative caller - prepare them for your good-bye. Say something like this, "Before I say good-bye, I've got one more question..." or, "Before we hang up, I'd just like to tell you...".
7: Plan your week in advance.
The old saying "Plan your work, work your plan" has merit. The best time to do your planning for the next week is usually late Friday afternoon or on the weekend. Knowing what you intend to do first thing on Monday relieves a lot of stress and allows you to enjoy the weekend with your family or whatever.
The weekly plan doesn't have to be something fancy. As I noted in point one, the weekly plan may just be a prioritized to-do list.
8: Take the time to do things right the first time.
People who don't have time to do things right the first time always seem to have time to do it over. Don't become one of them. It's true that we can learn from our mistakes. However, much time can be lost by carelessness or by taking dangerous shortcuts. You haven't the time to make all the time-wasting mistakes yourself. It makes a lot more sense to learn from other's mistakes which is probably why you're reading this article.
Beware of perfectionism. Don't confuse doing it right with doing it perfectly. Too many people waste too much time trying to be too perfect.
9: Seldom miss deadlines.
Missed deadlines are often a sign of either an overly optimistic or poor planner, or someone who doesn't realize that a 2-hour project always takes a full day. They usually forget to plan for interruptions (see 5 above). When you accept a deadline, you put your reputation on the line. Miss enough deadlines and your credibility suffers. Who wants to deal with an unreliable salesperson.
10: Before you make a sales call, know what your objective is.
Whether over the telephone or face-to-face, knowing what your objective is will help you put your mind in gear before you engage your mouth. It will also keep you focused on results and minimize time-wasting chit-chat. When you're driving to a call, turn off the radio and spend some time preparing for the upcoming call. Remember, good luck happens when preparation and planning meets opportunity.
11: Read your mail every day.
It is important to keep current but don't do your reading during prime selling time. Starting your day 15-20 minutes early for the express purpose of handling your mail is an excellent use of your time.
12: Delegate whenever possible.
The three keys to time management are: Plan, Prioritize and Delegate. Delegate doesn't mean dumping something on someone else. It means cooperatively giving them the responsibility for assisting you in your job. Don't fall into the old trap of believing that if you want it done right you have to do it yourself. Most salespeople don't have anyone to delegate work to but those who do find delegation painful. However, done correctly and consistently, you'll have time for the more important things like making more sales.
The key to good delegation is clear directions, expectations, and authority. Make sure the person you delegate to knows he can come to you for information and guidance. If the other person is coming to you too often, you've delegated to the wrong person.
13: Make most of your calls by appointment.
Having appointments whenever possible minimizes extended waits or totally wasted calls where your contact is out of the office. Consider sending a confirming fax just in case they forgot about your appointment. Always carry some reading material for those times you're stuck waiting.
14: Organize your work area.
Most salespeople's desktops look like a disaster area where someone has recently dumped a wastepaper basket. Untold hours are lost looking for misplaced pieces of paper and other information. Calls are missed and deals are lost due to clutter. (See #15.)
15: Have an orderly filing system at your office (or home).
If you don't have a place for everything and everything isn't in its place, you probably have chaos. A disorganized salesperson can be a disaster. If you have trouble keeping yourself organized, get someone to help you.
Studies show that people can lose up to five hours a week just looking for stuff. That's time you could spend doing business.
You don't have to get fancy. Neat piles on your desk may be a real breakthrough for some people. I still use the three-basket technique, "In", "Out" and "DND". "DND" stands for "die a natural death". If I can't decide where to file something, I put it into the DND basket. Every month I go through each item in the DND basket. If an item is still alive and I know what to do with it I action it. If an item is still alive and I still don't know what to do with it I put it back in the basket. If an item is dead, I throw it out. (Also see point 22 below.)
16: Don't make sales calls without everything you need.
Make sure you have everything in your briefcase for the sales calls you intend to make. Make a checklist of common items you want to keep with you. Get organized. Stuff your business attire full of your business cards so you don't leave home without them.
17: Try at least one time-saving idea every month.
If you're not trying at least one time-saving idea or shortcut each month, you're probably not serious about improving. Use new ideas for at least 21 days before quitting or assessing the results. It takes at least that long to develop new habits (unless it's a bad habit in which case it takes a lot less time!).
18: Make sure that you don't tackle too many tasks at one time.
Most salespeople have several things going at one time. While this is natural, know your limit and respect it. Tackling too many tasks at one time is usually the result of a failure to prioritize (see 1) and poor planning.
19: Say, "No" to at least one person every week.
If you never say no, you'll be inundated with unnecessary work. It's nice to be nice but not at the expense of your sanity. Don't try to please everyone all the time, you usually end up pleasing no one. Find ways to politely say no. Prioritize, plan and schedule.
20: Rarely work late or take work home.
Sales is not a nine-to-five job but if you constantly take work home it's possible that you are overworked or out of your league. More likely though, this is a symptom of poor planning and an inability to say no.
21: Use a personal organizer.
A good organizer is an salesperson's bible. It doesn't matter if it's a paper system, an electronic pocket organizer, a laptop or palmtop computer. It's critical that you have some method and system to keep yourself organized. If you don't, failure is just around the corner.
22: Keep paper handling to a minimum.
Use the 5-Ds (Do, Defer, Delegate, Dump, and Don't Know) to quickly sort your daily dose of paper into five piles. Then sort your Don't Know pile into Do, Defer, Delegate, or Dump. Dump the Dump pile, schedule the Do pile, ignore the Defer pile and delegate the Delegate pile. If you don't have anyone to delegate to, put the stuff into the Defer pile. Check the Defer pile each week or month to see if anything can be moved to either the Do or Dump piles. Try it, it works.
23: Overcome procrastination
Planning and prioritizing will help overcome procrastination. When all else fails and you have an unpleasant task to accomplish, don't hesitate, do the worst first. Get it out of the way and get on with your life.
If the sheer size of a project has galvanized you into inactivity, try breaking it down into smaller doable sub-projects and get on with the first piece. Remember you eat an elephant one mouthful at a time.
We can't manage time, we can only manage ourselves within the confines of time and sad though it is, there are no inoculations or magic elixirs we can give salespeople to make them better time managers. The same qualities that make salespeople successful - drive, desire and discipline - are the qualities you need to take control of time. If there's any secret, it's the same secret that's the key to success in the sales field - an unrelenting drive, and persistence to make things happen.
