Good time management
for salespeople has been an obsession of mine for more than 30 years.
In the last decade, I've been involved in helping tens of thousands
of sales people improve their results through more effective use
of their time. Over the years, I've seen some regularly occurring
patterns develop - tendencies on the part of sales people to do
things that detract from their effective use of time.

Here are the
four most common time-wasters I've observed. See if any apply to
you or your salespeople.

1. Allure
of the urgent/trivial.

Salespeople love to be busy and active. We have visions of ourselves
as people who can get things done. No idol dreamers, we're out there
making things happen!

A big portion
of our sense of worth and our personal identity is dependent on
being busy. At some level in our self image of our selves, being
busy means that we really are important. One of the worst things
that can happen to us is to have nothing to do, nowhere to go, and
nothing going on. So, we latch onto every task that comes our way,
regardless of the importance.

For example,
one of our customers calls with a back order problem. "Oh good!"
we think, "Something to do! We are needed! We can fix it!"
So, we drop everything and spend two hours expediting the backorder.

In retrospect,
couldn't some one in purchasing or customer service have done that?
And couldn't they have done it better than you? And didn't you just
allow something that was a little urgent but trivial prevent you
from making some sales calls? And wouldn't those potential sales
calls be a whole lot better use of your time?

Or, one of our
customers hands us a very involved "Request for Quote."
"Better schedule a half-day at the office," we think.
"Need to look up specifications, calculate prices, compile
literature, etc." We become immediately involved with this
task, working on this project for our customer. In retrospect, couldn't
we have given the project to an inside salesperson or customer service
rep to do the leg work? Couldn't we have just communicated the guidelines
to some one and then reviewed the finished proposal?

Once again,
we succumbed to the lure of the present task. That prevented us
from making sales calls and siphoned our energy away from the important
to the seemingly urgent.

I could go on
for pages with examples, but you have the idea. We are so enamored
with being busy and feeling needed that we often grab at any task
that comes our way, regardless of how unimportant. And each time
we do that, we compromise our ability to invest our sales times
more effectively.

2. The
comfort of the status quo.

A lot of salespeople have evolved to the point where they have a
comfortable routine. They make enough money and they have established
routines and habits that are comfortable. They really don't want
to expend the energy it takes to do things in a better way, or to
become more successful or effective.

This can be
good. Some of the habits and routines that we follow work well for
us.

However, our
rapidly changing world constantly demands new methods, techniques,
habits and routines. Just because something has been effective for
a few years doesn't mean that it continues to be so. This problem
develops when salespeople are so content with the way things are,
they have not changed anything in years.

If you haven't
changed or challenged some habit or routine in the last few years,
chances are you are not as effective as you could be.

For example,
you could still be writing phone messages down on little slips of
paper when entering them into your contact manager would be more
effective. This is a simple example of a principle that can extend
towards the most important things that we do. Are we using the same
routines for organizing our work week, for determining who to call
on, for understanding our customers, for collecting information,
etc.? There is no practical end to the list.

Contentment
with the status quo almost always means salespeople who are not
as effective as they could be.

My book, 10
Secrets of Time Management for Salespeople, discusses the use of
the "more" mindset as an alternative to the status quo.
3.

3. Lack
of trust in other people in the organization.

Salespeople have a natural tendency to work alone. After all, we
spend most of the day by ourselves. We decide where to go by ourselves,
we decide what to do by ourselves, and we are pretty much on our
own all day long. It's no wonder then, we just naturally want to
do everything by ourselves.

That's generally
a positive personality trait for a salesperson. Unfortunately, when
it extends to those tasks that could be done better by other people
in our organization it turns into a real negative.

Instead of soliciting
aid from others in the organization, and thereby making much better
use of our time, many salespeople insist on doing it themselves,
no matter how redundant and time-consuming the task is. The world
is full of salespeople who don't trust their own colleagues to write
an order, to source a product, to enter an order in the system,
to follow up on a back order, to deliver some sample or literature,
to research a quote, to deliver a proposal, etc. Again, the list
could go on and on.

The point is
that many of these tasks can be done better or cheaper by someone
else in the organization. The salespeople don't release the tasks
to them because they, the salespeople, don't trust them to do it.
Too bad. It's a tremendous waste of good selling time and talent.
Chapter 10 of my book "10 Secrets" describes a system
to nurture helpful relationships.

4. Lack
of tough-minded thoughtfulness.

Ultimately, time management begins with thoughtfulness. That means
a sufficient quantity of good quality thought-energy invested in
the process. I like to say that good time management is a result
of "thinking about it before you do it."

Good time managers
invest sufficiently in this process. They set aside time each year
to create annual goals, they invest planning time every quarter
and every month to create plans for those times, they plan every
week and every sales call. Poor sales time managers don't dedicate
sufficient time to the "thinking about it" phase of their
job.

Not only do
good sales time managers invest a sufficient quantity of time, but
they also are disciplined and tough-minded about how they think.
They ask themselves good questions, and answer them with as much
objectivity as they can muster.

• "What
  do I really want to accomplish in this account?"


• "Why
  aren't they buying from me?"


• "Who
  is the key decision maker in this account?"


• "Am
  I spending too much time in this account, or not enough in that
  one?"


• "How
  can I change what I am doing in order to become more effective?"
  

These are just
a few of the tough questions that good sales time managers consider
on a regular basis. They don't let allow their emotions or personal
comfort zones to dictate the plans. They go where it is smart to
go, do what it is smart to do. They do these things because they
have spent the quantity and quality of thought-time necessary.

Of course, there
are hundreds of other time-wasting habits. These four, however,
are the most common. Correct them, and you'll be well on your way
to dramatically improved results.

Copyright 2003
by Dave Kahle

About
The Author:

Dave Kahle is a consultant and trainer who helps his clients increase
their sales and improve their sales productivity. He speaks from
real world experience, having been the number one salesperson in
the country for two companies in two distinct industries. Dave has
trained thousands of salespeople to be more successful in the Information
Age economy. He's the author of over 500 articles, a monthly ezine,
and four books. His latest is 10 Secrets of Time Management for
Salespeople. He has a gift for creating powerful training events
that get audiences thinking differently about sales.

Dave Kahle's
"Thinking About Sales" Ezine features content-filled motivating
articles, practical tips for immediate improvements, and helpful
tips to help increase sales. Join on-line at www.davekahle.com/mailinglist.htm

Contact
Information:

The DaCo Corporation

3736 West River Drive

Comstock Park, MI 49321

Email: info@davekahle.com

Website: www.davekahle.com

© Copyright 2003 by SalesVault.com

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