While we have previously discussed a few time management techniques to help people in sales maximize their productivity, employing additional time management strategies can help you get the most out of your time. To help you stay as productive as possible and maximize your potential sales, here are a few additional time management tips for professionals.
In today's business world, sending emails is a vital and effective sales tool that you likely utilize on a daily basis. However, sending dozens of emails every day can quickly become a drain on your time and energy. Thusly, you could end up saving yourself a lot of hassle by creating email templates for conversations you have on a regular basis. While it is important that you tailor each message you send to the individual in question, you can save a great deal of time by starting with a template rather than a blank page. To get started, look through your "sent" folder to look for conversations that you frequently have. Use these to create templates for emails you frequently send such as outreach emails and emails for scheduling meetings. Having these templates ready will help you to maximize your productivity.
Every partner or sales rep has one task that they dread doing. Whether this be prospecting, writing emails, or returning calls, everyone has tasks they are tempted to put off until later. In fact, many people will find ways to delay doing a task they don't want to perform by overinvesting in other areas of their work. However, this form of procrastination can cost you a great deal of time in the end, as you will waste time delaying the inevitable. In order to maximize your efficiency, you should consider starting the day with your least favorite task. Not only will this get it out of the way, but it can help to ensure that you only spend the necessary amount of time of other tasks throughout the day.
After closing a big sale, completing an important task, or reaching a professional milestone, many people's first instinct would be to take a break to reward themselves for a job well done. However, this method can actually be counterproductive as you will want to build on your current success while you have momentum. Momentum can be hard to come by, and if you stop, even temporarily, you might find it hard to get back to where you were a few minutes prior. Thusly, you can further increase your productivity by using successes to motivate you rather than using them as an excuse to take breaks.
One of the biggest challenges professionals face is trying to determine whether a lead will turn into a sale, or whether they should cut their losses and give up, as chasing the wrong prospects can waste valuable time. While you likely already have methods that help you to disqualify leads, many people have a hard time letting go of potential sales even when it seems fruitless. However, it is important that you disqualify leads as quickly as possible as this allows you to move on to more viable options. Giving up on dead leads allows you to maximize the time you spend with viable leads.
Employing successful time management techniques can help you to maximize your productivity and increase your sales. Download our Channel Partner Success Guide to learn more about additional steps you can take to maximize your sales potential: