Sales Time Management

Hello team,

Welcome to 2007. The year for our company! In order to make 2007 a success we will need your help. In 2007 we will start with new working habits. If you want to make money, you have to see this as your own business. Otherwise it simply WONT WORK!. If you want to improve your skills, we have to start with the basics and that is… look at what other highly successful people do and how they spend their time. Later, do the same things that they do. Simple enough? Let’s discuss:

So then, exactly how do successful people spend their time, you ask? After working in Sales for many years this is the equation…Top 10% of the successful people I know show the following trend:

· Prospecting
Successful salespeople spend 45% of their time in prospecting activities. That's right; 45%. Cold Calling, networking, researching new companies and people to speak to is the single biggest area of time spent in sales activity. The lesson here is that even once you've achieved a certain level of success in sales, you can't stop prospecting. Consistent prospecting is one of the most important things you can do to get and TO STAY successful.

· Presenting
20% of the successful salesperson's time is spent in front of prospects - understanding what the prospect does, and presenting solutions as to how their product or service can help the prospect.

· Product Knowledge
Another 15% of time is spent on activities and skills related to product knowledge.

Consistently successful people spend a good deal of their time acquiring this skill and knowledge.

· Personal and Professional Development
Successful salespeople spend 10% of their time trying to improve their sales skills through reading or constantly questioning and discussing with others how to improve their people and phone skills… basically any other things that will help them improve. They make a consistent, concerted effort to find ways to improve on an ongoing basis. They don't say "I know all there is to know." They recognize that no matter how successful or experienced they are, there is always room to improve - and they put forth the effort to improve their own skills.

· Surprises?
Many of the salespeople that I share this with are surprised by some of these results. They are surprised to see experienced, successful salespeople spending so much of their time in prospecting activities. The thinking goes "Hey, once I've reached a certain level of experience and success, the business should just flow to me; I can be successful just on repeat and referral business. I don't need to prospect." In fact, people who take that attitude are the ones that plateau and stagnate after a few years.

And, the people that believe they know all there is to know about their products, and about selling are the very same ones that will just barely make their own budget.

Sales Routines-

8:00- 9:00 Read emails and research on new companies

9:00- 11:00 Cold Pitching time (If you have meetings this process will be done as follow

11:00- 12:00 Work on Proposals and Offers

12:00- 13:00 Lunch

13:00- 16:00 pitching time

16:00- 17:00 Research on new companies to pitch- (Try to get CEO's or Marketing Directors phone numbers, make a list of the companies you will call tomorrow)

We will monitor calls daily. This is what we will consider healthy:

1. At least 60 to 70 phone calls per day
2. Or an average of 1 hour and 45 minutes up to 2 hours
3. Or at least 2 to 3 face to face meetings per day ( This means if you have 1 face to face meeting, your call rates should be 2/3 of your “stay at work day” = 40 phone calls when out)

How Do You Measure Up?
How are you spending your time? Take a look at your own activities and ask yourself how you balance these five key selling activities. If you find that you're not spending your time in a similar fashion, you may want to take a hard look at where your time is being spent and where you want to work.

As a professional salesperson, your time is your biggest asset, and something that you can't bank or recover once it's gone. Aim to spend your time in these key areas, and you will make this your best year ever!