8 Essential Time Management Tips for Salespeople

As a sales rep, you might be responsible for gathering information about the prospects, customer visits, and updating timely records, there is a lot you must do in a day. Besides, if things aren’t sorted out more time is wasted in searching for sales-related information and updates.

You don’t get sufficient time to focus on the plan of action and selling. Especially for those who work within a sales domain where there are high expectations and challenging lead targets. Your major focus may be to just get your head down and tirelessly work, however taking time out to rejuvenate is just as vital.

Revamp the time you have available, so it is used in the most effective and productive way, is what will ultimately lead you to the best results. 

Time management is important for sales reps so they can categorize all their work tasks and achieve their goals faster. When you better manage your time, you’ll be able to take on new opportunities and upgrade your sales in a feasible way.

Here we’re going to give you some 8 best time management tips for how to manage your time more effectively and stay on top of a busy work schedule that you might have not used before.

Follow Your Advancement Towards Smart Sales Targets

One of the best and easy ways to manage time effectively and also to increase your productivity is to have something specific to move forward and aim for. List down your daily/monthly sales targets of what exactly you’re urging for.

Those who set targets and actively monitor their progress tend to perform much better than those who do not. Make sure when you are listing down your targets, to make them as specific as possible.

The more specific you can get, the greater the likelihood of achieving it. Timely monitoring of progress will distinctly show you how much you have accomplished how much is left to achieve your sales target, and what improvisation needs to be made to your process so far.

Multitasking is a Myth, Focus on one Task at a Time

It’s a known fact; multi-tasking is a myth. As a sales rep, you are continually juggling much variety of sales tasks at a time on any given day. You might feel this is productive, but the truth is the opposite.

The standard of work and attention to customers is very likely to suffer. Physiologically, it takes time for our minds to shift from doing one task to another. A lack of focus during this time can affect your daily sales productivity.

As a result, when you try and multi-task you tend to get mentally tired because the mind is constantly trying to shift gears and refocus on one task. To achieve great sales results and keep proper attention, address one task at a time, complete it and move for the next task.

Or you can group similar sales tasks so that your mind doesn’t have to try and shift around all over the place. 

Apply the Pareto Principle 

According to the Pareto Principle (i.e., the 80/20 rule), 20% of your time produces 80% of your results. Rather than heeding on tasks that have little profit on your sales, give time on the ones with maximum profit. Then, look for easy ways to either outsource or batch those least-profit activities.

Another way to think about the 80/20 Rule is, 80% of your sales will come from 20% of your customers. Translated, this shows that successful people know that the top priorities (or the top 20 percent) are going to drive the most sales profits. They delegate the rest.

Know When to Move on With Leads

Sales reps are constrained to get better of objections and keep going for the sale, but that can lead to wasted hours following up on someone who’s not interested. Your organization likely has a lead follow-up framework as part of the sales management process.

But what about those leads who headway through the sales pipeline and then decide that your product solution isn’t the best fit for their problems? They stop responding to your calls or responding to your emails, and when you do reach them, they pass you off or shut you out with unclear responses.

They’re not engaged, so why waste your time chasing them? 

Leave Some Time For Unexpected Challenges and Interruptions

If you make a sales plan every day down without leaving a second, you will never have time for unexpected challenges and interruptions. Tend to leave at least a minimum of one hour each day for unplanned tasks and meetings.

Also, it’s a nice idea to schedule open work hours or make a time convenient for colleagues and collaboration. If you over-schedule yourself, you’re almost always going to fall behind or short off.

Also, at some point, it will make you tired and burdened with workloads that can indirectly affect your sales productivity.

Prioritize Your Tasks According to Their Importance

This seems like an obvious step – but what we do is often waste time on tasks that have no vitality or could be left for another day. Take into a concern which tasks or activities will help you in achieving your sales goals and are crucial to your purpose as a sales rep.

Also keep a look at deadlines: those that are emerging the closest need your focus first, if not given tasks will always be left to the last minute hurry. If need be, allocate a time frame (say 30 minutes or an hour) to focus just on one specific task or work.

Using Right Tools Can Also Save Time and Effort

We all must have heard the saying; “the right tool for the right job”, and “you are only as good as your tools.” These sayings are very much relatable when it comes to the choice and use of tools in sales.

The tools and softwares you use can make a huge variance to your sales productivity while saving you a great deal of time and effort. Choosing the right tool for your team deserves its due diligence.

There are millions of tools available out in the market. How to choose the right one?

The right tool is something that saves time and money, is efficient in working, easy to use and handle, and lastly as the solution for sales-related problems some of which is attendance marking, client meeting updates, follow-ups, daily sales reporting, note-taking, and much more.

However, it could be a really back-breaking task to come up with one such pile of tools that could likely be perfect for your sales activities. We know this seems like a big task, but the best part is that you don’t have to worry anymore.

If you’re on the hunt for such a perfect tool with all the above-mentioned attributes and a one-stop solution for your time management problems in sales you can check out Lystloc.

Give Yourself a Break

As a sales rep, you always race on utilizing your time as efficiently as possible and completing you’re to-do lists on a daily routine but did you ever think of your brain? Your brain can actively work only for a certain time period before productivity starts to decline.

The Pomodoro Technique suggests taking a quick 5-minute break between each 25 minute time interval during working. These quick breaks help your brain rest, revamp and stay fresh for a longer time frame.

This simple way of taking a small break tends to increase your work productivity, helps to prevent burnout, and improves your focus. When you come back to your work and the task at hand, you will be active and ready to tackle the rest of your day ahead.

Summing Up

On the whole, all-time management tips for sales reps come down to concluding— eliminate time waste, stay organized, and focus on your best leads. Don’t lose any more sales to poor time management. 

Try these 8 time management tips and experience how simple it can be to streamline your day, reach more prospects, and make more sales.