Salespeople are always put through a lot of sales skills trainings and negotiation skills trainings. But to be the best at
selling they also require other soft
and behavioural skills trainings too. One such
training is time management training.
Managing time is a problem for a lot of people. And if we
talk about sales managers, most of them struggle with that skill. Sales executives
and managers have a lot on their plate at all points of time. You may have even
noticed that many of them stay in a firefighting mode most of the time. Hence, time
management training is a very important program
for salespeople.
There are few things that sales professionals need help
with while managing time. And if I were to give them some time management tips,
they will be as follows:
To Do List:
This is something that they miss out on big time. Creating
a to do list is a very good habit, not just for sales professionals but each
one of us. It helps in having all the tasks that we need to accomplish in the
day in front of us rather than being left to memory. That way we don’t miss out
on any and can plan our day accordingly. So, for all those salespeople who have
tried to create to do lists and dropped it because you realised you never
followed it, I urge you to try again. And be sure you make use of the next
step to strengthen it and increase your chances
of going by it!
Prioritisation:
Once the to do list is made, the next logical step is to
prioritise these tasks based on their urgency and importance. There are many
prioritisation tools that one can learn and use. I highly recommend the time
management matrix. Prioritisation helps in figuring out which tasks need your
attention first and which ones can be eliminated. This helps focus on what’s
important and giving the time wasters a miss. Be sure to also keep some buffer
time. You never know when a meeting can get extended or your travel time
between meetings increases! Also remember to apply prioritisation
to your e-mails. It will help you save a lot of
time.
Focus:
A big issue many salespeople tend to face is lack of focus.
Although I would say it’s pretty much become a worldwide phenomenon with the
levels of connectivity that we have! This means many of us spend more time
surfing on the internet or on social media just to get a break from our over
connectedness at work! In general also, technology and our fast paced life has
made us impatient. This makes it difficult for us to pay attention to anything
for too long and we land up moving to the next customer
without giving enough attention to the current
one. And we know how dangerous and detrimental to our sales that can be. So, be
sure to take time off your screen and disconnect from work. Practice techniques
to keep you in the present moment and watch how they magically increase your
focus and in turn customer delight!
