Time management and selling

At one level at least, the results you achieve as a salesperson reflect your ability to manage your time effectively.

Obviously, the more time you spend in front of prospective customers 'selling' the more you will sell. It stands to reason therefore that, as a salesperson, you should maximise the amount of time you spend in front of customers selling.

This is a matter of simple time allocation.

Given that sales appointments don't always make themselves there also needs to be sufficient time allocated to the task of setting up sales appointments - whether this be done by phone or face-to-face.

The best way to ensure that this vital time allocation is done is to employ the Ideal Week concept where you divide your activities into two categories - 'key' and 'secondary'. (Your key activities should include, as a minimum the setting-up and holding of sales appointments; there may be others, there may not be.)

You then allocate your key activities to specific time slots each week on a regular basis - they become absolute priorities.

Having allocated time slots to the key activities make your secondary activities fit in around the key activities.

Then stick to your plan - don't let your secondary activities get in the way of your key activities.


(The up-coming post for Friday 28/11 is Shut up! - and sell more. It's about the value of silence in selling.)