Finding enough time in the day to do all the essential things for a sales professional can be challenging.
Between meetings, reviewing leads, coaching, travel, and supporting sales pursuits, it sometimes seems like there aren’t enough hours in the day. Most sales professionals feel like they’re always running behind, so now more than ever, it might be time to take a closer look at how to improve productivity.
Sales professionals can focus on a few key areas to boost their productivity and get more done in less time.
In this post, we’ll outline tips for finding more time in your schedule so that you can focus on the most critical sales-related activities!
First, modernize your email habits.
Sales professionals spend too much time checking and responding to emails throughout the day. Setting aside specific times for checking email instead of letting it interrupt your workflow constantly can save two or more hours per day. Tools like Boomerang or Inbox Pause help manage the inbox and reduce the amount of time spent dealing with email. If you are serious about improving email productivity, start using the Stack Method – a free technique that changed my professional email life!
Second, modernize your calendar habits.
Scheduling time to accomplish important activities is an essential step. If the critical things aren’t on the calendar weeks in advance, they just don’t get done.
For example, if you need to spend a few times during the week reviewing your team’s sales pipeline, or prospecting, schedule the time to ensure it gets done.
The essential activities should not be the first meeting time you’re willing to reschedule to accommodate a meeting request. If the activity is essential, not getting it done can impact sales performance and goal achievement.
Finally, modernize your to-do list management.
Task management is challenging because tasks take time to accomplish. Scheduling time for task management is a best practice for getting things done – 30-minute blocks of uninterrupted time enable the completion of prioritized tasks faster and more effectively than fitting them as you have time during the day.
Pro-tip: Did you know that you can drag an email from your Outlook directly to your calendar by dragging that email to your calendar icon on the bottom left of Outlook? When you do so, it will create a calendar entry with a stop and start time!