Salespeople are many times not nearly as organized as they should be.
I put myself into this camp, as I’m always struggling with ways to be more organized and, in particular, with how to best use my time.
Take a look at how you use your time.
How many interruptions do you have in a day?
In sales, we are almost proud of the number of interruptions we have, as we see it as sign of importance. The more people who want our time can only mean we must be important, right?
It’s time to put that fallacy to rest.
If all we’re doing is running from one interruption to another all day long, then there simply is something wrong with our organization.
If you think I’m going to help you solve all of your company’s woes — sorry, I can’t do it.
While we may not be able to fix an entire company, we can fix ourselves. Best way I’ve found to help manage the work that needs to be done is by doing what I refer to as “time chunking.”
This is the process where you bundle similar items together and complete them at one time.
Example of time chunking might be how you handle phone calls, email or daily reports. I know I run afoul of some productivity experts when I say this but hey, I’m a salesperson so cut me some slack.
My belief is bundle similar items together and do them all at one time.
Build your day around 20 minute time chunks. Don’t try to schedule every 20 minute segment, but do 5 or 6 in the morning and 5 or 6 in the afternoon.
During these chunks is when you’ll focus exclusively on a single item. Allowing yourself unscheduled chunks will then afford you the time to deal with the other stuff that pops up.
Is this strategy perfect? No, but it does help create more focused thinking, which in my world is a huge asset in being able to get more completed each day.
Copyright 2013, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
2 Responses
Great tip Mark.
Another is to do small tasks in batches of 10-12.
– pre-schedule a dozen tweets or status updates to your content, – add a dozen tweets into your social media buffer or scheduler,
– check a dozen social profiles of target people or companies,
– make 10 calls based on a specific conversation opener,
– check and update 10 forecasts and follow-up actions.
I find it creates a sense of progress, output and closure.
Mark.
If you’d like a tool for managing your time and projects, you can use this web-application inspired by David Allen’s GTD:
http://www.Gtdagenda.com
You can use it to manage your goals, projects and tasks, set next actions and contexts, use checklists, and a calendar.
Syncs with Evernote and Google Calendar, and also comes with mobile version, and Android and iPhone apps.