Time management is a vital skill, regardless of your profession—whether you’re a sales rep, a banker, or a driver. Your ability to use your time efficiently is a skill worth honing, as it can lead to significant achievements in any role you undertake. Many individuals spend a considerable portion of their time engaged in activities like scrolling through social media, reading news, or playing games during their peak productivity hours.
Indeed, mastering time management is not an easy task, but it’s a skill that can be developed. To get started, you need to follow a few key rules:
- Create a Daily Plan: Begin by crafting a plan for your day. Ideally, extend your planning to cover your week, month, or even the entire year, encompassing both personal and professional goals. Start by segmenting your day into blocks. For instance, if you’re a sales rep, allocate the first half of your day to cold calls for new clients, take a short break (avoid social media and opt for a walk, snack, or a brief nap), continue with calls to existing clients to offer support or check for additional needs, and dedicate the final part of your day to emails, summarizing your activities, and setting your agenda for the next day. Although you can create a highly detailed schedule, starting with a basic one is an excellent way to begin. Consider planning your day in the morning, at the end of your workday, or even before going to sleep to start your day with a clear roadmap.
- Consolidate Face-to-Face Meetings: While face-to-face meetings can be valuable, especially in deal-closing scenarios, it’s essential to recognize that in B2B sales, reaching the closing stage can be a lengthy process, taking up to a year or more. During meetings focused on discussions or demonstrations, you may inadvertently squander productive time—1-2 hours for the meeting, lunch, travel time, potentially wasting half your day. Instead, consider consolidating multiple meetings into a single day, limiting each meeting to approximately one hour. This approach allows you to optimize your time and focus on what truly matters.
- Prioritize the Heaviest Tasks First: Tackle critical and time-consuming tasks at the outset. By addressing the most significant responsibilities initially, you’ll find that subsequent tasks progress more swiftly, ultimately enhancing your overall productivity.
- Minimize Distractions: Set up your workspace to minimize potential distractions, ensuring your undivided focus on your work. Avoid frequent email checking—consider reviewing emails before each break. Eliminate distractions like Facebook and other social media from your mobile device. If LinkedIn is part of your work, use it effectively and avoid aimless scrolling. Additionally, try to steer clear of extended discussions with colleagues, especially in an open office setting, as they often stray from work-related topics.
Sales managers are often occupied with the email writing, chatting through different platforms, prospecting clients in the Linkedin, often these activities takes time as we need to review what we have texted, how was our style and grammar, and plugins like QuillBot often helps to reduce time a lot.
These four rules serve as an excellent starting point for effective time management. If you’re a sales rep, adopting these principles can be transformative. To excel in B2B sales, start implementing these guidelines immediately, and witness the enhancement of your productivity and the realization of your goals. Time management is a powerful tool, and when utilized effectively, it can lead to success in the realm of B2B sales and beyond.
But let`s not forget that we are in the game of sales where one fire are covered with another, and sometimes just impossible to make any plans for a day 🙂