If you are a leader of your sales team, how often do you hear: “I wish I had more time to prospect or to make sales calls.” Sales (like many professions) is a game of time efficiency. The better one can effectively manage their time, the better results they obtain. Sounds easy, right?
For some top producers, they have figured out the game. For others who are average or good, they typically fall into several of these common time waster traps. How many do you see within your team?
- Following up
This is the #1 time waster from a sales perspective. Look back over the past month. How many voicemails have they left or emails have they sent “following up” or “checking in” on an opportunity? Think of the time wasted logging this information in your CRM, the effort in the call or email, the time wasted pondering if a lack of response is a bad thing.
- Running from a “No”
Too many times sales reps look to resuscitate a dying potential client. They already have a lot of time sunk into a particular opportunity, so they, “Don’t want to lose it now.” Unfortunately they spend more time keeping it alive (and dropping their price) instead of looking for someone else they can help.
- Getting ready to get ready
This is the classic case of productive avoidance. Many reps feel good about their performance because they feel busy gathering lists, cleaning out their email inbox, and researching prospects. These are activities that (in theory) can be accomplished before 8 a.m. or after 5 p.m. Instead, reps waste precious hours every day doing “busy” work.
- Not asking for referrals
Make 100 dials to generate two opportunities? Or, have three conversations with clients who love your company in order to generate two opportunities. Your people will save seven hours a week just by correcting this time waster.
- Following an ineffective sales process
What happens if your people could streamline your sales process to cut out one meeting per sales cycle? Or uncover items early to find out if they should keep going or not, rather than hearing the common objections at the end of a sales cycle? An ineffective sales process spends way too much time speeding through the initial stages, and once you get to the quoting stage it slows down. Slow down to speed up.
Selling is about maximizing the time spent on highly productive activities. Too often, sales reps don’t realize the impact their behavior is having on them and their performance. But it may not be their fault. It’s your job as their leader to bring clarity to these time wasters. Then, watch the numbers grow.
