Time management doesn’t have to be complicated
Have you ever started your day with the anticipation that you were going to be productive, produce revenue and have an overall successful day? However, at the end of the day you have a to-do list that is long, you didn’t get some of the most important things done, and time got away from you. If that’s you, you’re okay. You need an effective time management strategy. All of us do, but few sales professionals are willing to admit they struggle with time management. Sales professionals have multiple tasks to accomplish during the day. You have to follow up with the prospect, you have to reach out to a new prospect, you have to work with your sales team or sales manager, you have administrative work to do, you have pre-call planning, you have post-call planning. The list goes on. Add in some personal distractions and you have a recipe for a lack of productivity. The importance of time management for sales professionals cannot be overstated. It’s not easy to manage without a system in place. I know that the clients I work with often come with one question, what’s a simple time management strategy I can implement now?
Prioritize by time for time management
My time management strategy is pretty simple, and you can implement it right now. I’m a big fan of breaking down my working day into its two main parts— morning (before lunch) and afternoon (after lunch)— and identifying how I must use that time. I prioritize and identify the three most important tasks that must be accomplished before 12 noon, and then I identify the three most important tasks that must be accomplished before 5:00 p.m. I write it exactly that way in my planner, and that’s how I know where to start my day. At the end of the day, if I accomplish all six of those tasks, I typically feel productive. I feel okay with having a to-do-list that has yet to be completed because I completed the most important task of the day. I can move other items to my before lunch/after lunch list tomorrow. It’s a very simple approach, but if you do that every day you’ll find that your productivity will go improve greatly.
Automation as a time management strategy
The important activities, however, aren’t always the most beneficial ones. When they first start using my time strategy method, in the beginning people want to prioritize tasks that are of urgent need. That’s fine because you want to get some of the urgent needs off your desk first thing in the morning. I recommend making those urgent needs the first three things you accomplished before noon. I made an adjustment in 2020 that has really helped me maximize my time. I’ve put the afternoon task into the category of will “this save me time in the future.” Essentially, I’m trying to create a system of automation as part of my time management strategy. I prioritize a task in the afternoon that will help save me time at some point in the future— whether it’s as soon as the next day or as far away as next year. By creating systems of automation, you’ll naturally become more productive because it opens up significant amounts of time that you can devote to producing revenue. And in the world of sales we call that the KPIs, key performance indicators. So how I go further with my three before lunch and three tasks before the end of the day, I do urgent in the morning and in the afternoon I will do the three important tasks that will help save time in the future.
A more productive day
Once that simple time management strategy is rolling, you’ll find that you will be more productive, produce higher revenue and overall have a higher commission structure. If you have questions about this feel free to reach out to me. I’d love to hear your thoughts. You can text the Catapulting Commissions community, pick up a copy of a free book at (661) 228-8967. Just text the word hello and we’ll get you connected there.
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