Sometimes it feels like there aren’t enough hours in the day for everything you need to do: prospecting, returning phone calls, travelling, team meetings, updating your CRM system, keeping up with industry knowledge, training… You might start to feel like you don’t have enough time to actually sell. A recent survey found that sales people tend to divide their time as follows:
- 41% selling
- 24% generating leads
- 19% team meetings and admin
- 16% other tasks – training, service calls, etc.
1. Create a schedule
Think about when you are most likely to be able to get things done. Is there any point calling a list of prospects on a Friday afternoon? Could you spend this time catching up on your admin work instead? Review when you are usually most effective and task your work accordingly. Unexpected work may still come up, but by creating a schedule, the workload should feel more manageable. Assign time limits to each task, and if you are spending far too long in one area, look at how it could be made more efficient.
2. Optimise your travel
You’ve had a call from a potential client. They’re several hours away and it’s only a small sale, but you can’t just ignore it. Make the most of this journey by planning your route carefully. Are there any clients on the way that you haven’t seen for a while? Could you drop by on a potential contact you’ve been meaning to call anyway?
3. Let others help
Salespeople spend a lot of time alone. They are also heavily invested in what happens regarding their clients and are likely to believe they can do everything better than everyone else. But in most companies, there will be a support team there. Utilise these resources. If a client has a question about invoicing or shipping, forward these to the appropriate department rather than getting too involved. If you have an in-house product specialist, make sure you are making the most of them. This will free you up to spend time on more productive areas.
What one change could you make to help you spend more time selling?
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