If you want to be successful, forget “busy” and worry about “productive.”
If there’s a constant refrain that I hear as I train salespeople and consult with their bosses, it’s “Troy, I can’t possibly do more! I’m just too darn busy.” Of course, I get “busy.” I understand it; in fact, I get busy myself. The human desire is to be busy; helps the time go faster. Yet, when I start digging into what people are busy with, it’s usually a proof of the old saying, “Work expands to fill the time allotted.”
The trouble is that “busy” doesn’t carry with it any time priority, or sense of the value of time. I’ve always looked at what I call the “hard forty” philosophy of sales jobs. That means that most sales jobs can be performed well – even excelled in – with an expenditure of forty good, hard working hours per week. Yet, salespeople will routinely spend 50-60 hours in a week on their jobs, and not excel. How can that be true? Usually, it’s because they’re “busy.” Understanding how to succeed in sales involves getting away from “busy” – and it means understanding the value of time, and the different activities that we do.
There’s a definite hierarchy to the time we spend, and how we should prioritize it. Salespeople who fail to understand this hierarchy will probably fail at selling.
Face Time: The most valuable time we spend in any given time period – day, week, month, or year – is face to face time with customers or prospects. Further, the most valuable face time we can spend is time spent having a substantive discussion with our customers; if you’re discovering needs and presenting solutions – or any other activity that moves the customers through a sales funnel – you’re making the most out of your time. Most professional salespeople spend less than eight hours per week on this activity. Yes, I said eight hours.
Don’t believe me? There’s an easy way to check this. Go to a discount store and pick up a cheap stopwatch. Stick it in your pocket. On your first sales call, reach into your pocket and push the “start/stop” button. When the call ends, hit “stop.” Yes, it’s easy to do this without your customer noticing. Don’t hit the reset button; when your next call starts, repeat the process. At the end of the week, take a look at the number. You’ll be surprised at how little time you spend in quality conversations with customers. If you want better results, you need to maximize this time.
Time Spent Setting Up Face Time: To expect to spend 100% face time is unrealistic, of course. We have to spend some time getting customers and prospects to see us; this time – phone or e-mail – is the second highest-value time we’re going to spend in a week. One reason that salespeople fail is that they don’t appropriately budget and plan for this time. Prospecting seldom happens unplanned; making an appointment with yourself is the best way to make sure this happens. It also helps avoid the “time allotted” trap, as well, since putting yourself under pressure to do a quantity of calls in a short time makes the best use of your time.
Time Spent Improving Yourself: OK, maybe this is a gimme – but there’s a definite value to investing time in yourself and your own skills. I did that earlier this year, going to a speaker coaching program put on by Patricia Fripp and Darren LaCroix, and it was some of the most valuable time I spent in 2012. The time you spend improving your sales skills, your personal knowledge, your skill with sales tools, etc. has a high value.
Everything Else: Here’s the big catch-all. “Everything else” could be time spent preparing proposals, writing letters, attending meetings, or other miscellaneous “stuff” that you do every week. When I break down the time salespeople actually spend, “everything else” is the dominant category – and much of the time, it’s work that can be moved, rearranged, streamlined, or delegated. Why don’t salespeople do this? Because nobody tells you “no” in “everything else” time. Still, if you want to succeed, this time has to be cut.
Personal Crap: There’s one category that falls even below “everything else.” That’s the personal stuff you do – hitting the dry cleaners, grocery shopping, beers with your buddies, etc. that falls during the work hours. This can usually be eliminated.
You don’t have access to your customers 24 hours a day; during the hours your customers are accessible, you need to be maximizing your time with them. That’s how average performers become stars, and stars become superstars. If you want a better 2013 than 2012 was, it’s time to get to work on not being “busy” and instead being productive.
