Where do you spend your time?
Let’s face it — too much of our time is spent doing things that do not produce revenue. The role of sales is to meet customers and generate incremental business; it’s not to update stupid reports.
Yes, I’m calling out the stupidity of how too much time is spent updating, correcting, arranging or filing stuff that has zero merit. It starts with having a “to do” list full of these revenue sucking activities. The end result is simple — the time we spend with customers and prospecting is cut out.
When I see salespeople taking Mondays to get things set up for the week and then spending Fridays getting caught up on reports, etc., I have to wonder how much time are they spending selling.
Ask yourself with each item you do that if not doing it would have any impact on revenue. Top performing salespeople don’t have their time managed for them due to these activities. No, top performers focus first on selling and then use the leftover time to deal with the mundane.
If your focus is on the reports and not on selling, then maybe you need to change your title from salesperson to “report person.”
Make this the week you begin with your #1 focus on revenue producing activities.
Go ahead and show this video to your sales manager. Here’s a hint. If they don’t agree with it, then you need to find a new boss.
Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results.
Mark Hunter, your next keynote speaker:
Mark Hunter, CSP, “The Sales Hunter” is recognized globally as one of the top sales speakers, known for his challenging insights, high-energy, and passion to create change that he delivers each time he speaks, whether it be a sales kick-off meeting, corporate function or association event. Mark Hunter is the author of the best selling book, High-Profit Prospecting. Here’s what others are saying:
Mark presented “Accelerate Your Sales Prospecting” at the February 2015 Institute for Excellence in Sales program in Northern Virginia. He nailed it and gave the 150 selling professionals and business owners in attendance amazing tips, strategies and tactics they could implement that day. The sales leaders at our program universally acknowledged Mark as one of the top speakers we’ve ever had.
- Fred Diamond, Executive Director, IES Washington DC
At our annual company sales meeting we’ ve never seen a speaker work so hard, with advance preparation, with such genuine style of delivery, and with such hunger for results. If you weren’t on the edge of your seat….you were in a coma. Period!
- Mark Allen, Regional Manager, Marlin Companies
Mark’s strategies are innovative, easy to follow and easy to use in the “real world.” He customized his strategies to directly speak to the issues and challenges facing our unique business, and he helped us encompass specific selling examples. This training was very applicable to our sales staff, both at a senior and junior level, as it reinforced important sales techniques.”
- Danielle Pakradooni, Blue Man Group
Copyright 2017, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results.
One Response
This is so true. Thanks for the reminder. Listening to this every Monday is certainly a revenue producing activity and Mark didn’t pay me to say this!