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HOME » NEWSLETTER & ARTICLES » NEWSLETTERS & ARTICLES ARCHIVE » Time Management for Sales: Time Wasters Salespeople Should Avoid
Time Management - Time Wasters Salespeople Can and Should Avoid
A Downward Trend
In spite of technological advancements such as email and cell phones, salespeople today have less contact time with customers than they did five or ten years ago. This means less time to build relationships with current customers and less time to develop new business.
Wouldn't it be nice if you and your sales force could free up more time to spend on productive activities such as customer contact? An effective place to begin is to identify some common sales time wasters. Time wasters don't just happen. Some common time wasters are caused by other people. For example, a colleague telephones you about something that isn't critical. Of course, many common time wasters are self-imposed. It is easy to rationalize time wasters and accept them as inevitable. However, keep in mind the one trait that differentiates successful sales professionals:
The best salespeople manage time well. Average sales people let time manage them.
Sales Time WastersWhat are the most frequent time wasters for sales people? We have identified over twenty common sales time wasters and based on a poll conducted in our workshops, here are the four most common time wasters: #1 The salesperson is asked to do too many administrative tasks. For example, working on paperwork. Sometimes the solution to this time waster is out of the salesperson's control, but there are ways to minimize, and in some cases, eliminate this time waster. #2: Inefficient use of email and voice mail. This time waster is not unique to sales professionals. The nature of selling tends to make this time waster a particularly acute problem. There are many effective ways to use email and voice mail, and to free up a corresponding amount of time that can be spent more productively elsewhere. #3: Spending too much time with the wrong customers. Obviously, if a sales person spends too much time with the wrong customers, he or she is not spending enough time with the right customers. Every sales person has the capability to eliminate this time waster. #4: Attending internal meetings. This is a doubly negative time waster. First, time spent at meetings is time not spent on higher gain activities. Second, meetings themselves tend to be poorly planned and facilitated, so the meeting itself takes longer than it should and doesn't generate the results that were intended.
Where Do You Go From Here?This article provides a synopsis of one of the key topics from our Time Management for Sales Workshop. If you have a question or want to discuss the subject of time management in more detail, send us an email. Thanks!
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