3 Simple Time Management Tips for Sales Managers

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!