Three Tips for Effective Time Management

If the average salesperson were to become a half hour more “time effective” during the day, this would mean an additional $4,800 in personal income annually.

One cannot be totally effective in sales unless time is used as an ally rather than an adversary. Effective salespeople understand time and its three contingencies. First, good time management is good self-management. One does not manage time; rather, we manage ourselves within the constraints of time. Second, good time management is substituting one habit for another. We currently do things either efficiently or inefficiently. Time management is then a function of substituting effective habits for ineffective ones.

The third time management contingency is that these habits must be consistently applied. They must become part of our everyday life. You do not practice time management one day and not the next. One day’s good habits do not bring lasting results. It is no different than fueling your car or body. One meal does not last forever. One tank of gas only takes you so far. Time management must be practiced daily to enjoy any substantial benefits.

The Time Log

There are three things that effective salespeople do to better manage themselves and hence, their time. First, they perform an analysis of their current practices. This is called a time log. Before one can suggest ways to improve, it is necessary to determine how time is being misused. This way, adjustments in habits are based on insight rather than guesswork.

Here are some suggestions for the log. Use a three week time span. This will balance any atypical days. Begin from the time you leave the house in the morning and conclude when you arrive home in the evening. Develop different categories for activities like travel, waiting, administrative work, etc. When you have completed your log, ask those two questions in your analysis. “What would happen if I eliminated this activity?” and “Who else could do this for me?” Time logs require self-discipline. Once you have done this for a few days, it becomes a habit and is no longer perceived as an inconvenience. In fact, many people report that they enjoy doing it so they can see where their time is being used or misused.

Multiply Yourself

The second thing that effective salespeople do to become better self-managers is that they actively seek ways to multiple themselves. Effective salespeople use the post office to their advantage. They personally invest in direct mail pieces. They send literature, form letters, thank-you notes, journal articles, newsletters, or anything else that will keep their names in front of the customer.

Effective salespeople also multiply themselves by seeking ways to use the telephone. Follow-up, arranging for appointments, pre-call qualifying, and canvassing are just a few of the ways that the effective salesperson will multiply himself with the phone.

Referral selling and enlisting the aid of other people are other valuable ways to multiply yourself. The principle is simple, get others to do some of your work for you! Referral selling is very effective because the customer qualifies the prospect for you.

The single most effective way to multiply your efforts is by developing the mindset that trading one’s money for more time is a bargain at any price. Always be willing to invest money to gain time. Money is a replaceable commodity, time is not!

Planning Power

The third thing that effective salespeople do to become better self-managers is that they plan. If it sounds simple, it is! The effective salesperson begins planning by outlining his goals or aspirations. Once the objectives are established, a strategy is then developed to achieve them. The effective salesperson couples dogged persistence with clear vision of the goal to achieve more. The ineffective salesperson loses sight of the goal because he has become too immersed in the mechanics of achieving the goal. This is demonstrated by salespeople who are more concerned with the number of sales calls they make than the number of sales they make. It is their obsession with activity versus results that causes their ineffectiveness.

I have some good news and some bad news about time management. The bad news is that you have all the time you will ever get! The good news is that this is also true of your competition.

Tom Reilly is president of Sales Motivational Services, 1302 Clarkson/Clayton Center, Suite 205, Ellisville, MO 63011. Tel. 314-277-1651, a firm that specializes in sales and sales management training.