11 Time Management Challenges for Busy Salespeople

Challenges? What? Yes, challenges. Not tips, strategies, techniques, etc. Everybody has a selling tip to offer you, but here's the thing:

Our competition has access to the same sales strategies that we do, so it's up to us to implement the ones that will actually:

• save us more time,
• improve our sales mindset,
• help us to provide more value to our network,
• keep us accountable,
• and benefit our sales process.

It can be overwhelming. We live in the Information Age where it's increasingly difficult to find legitimate sales training vs. fad trends or sales myths.

Above, I've outlined what I firmly believe to be the 5 elements of a top 1% salesperson. I travel the world to guide burned out, bummed out, or simply busy salespeople through the 5-part process of building sustainable habits that help them and their customers.

I want you to have that same guide because I'm confident it will help you, too. My new masterclass, Roadmap to Excellence: How to Be a Top 1% Salesperson will unpack these 5 elements in great detail so that you accept and implement only what benefits you and your prospects/clients. Early access closes tomorrow at midnight CT, so check out the curriculum now!

For now, let's begin with this free excerpt on mastering part 1 of 5: Time.

1. Take 15 minutes Sunday evening.

If you save planning for Monday, you've already wasted 20% of your workweek.

Planning is never your most productive activity.

Set aside 15-30 minutes Sunday evening to map out the week, congratulate yourself on last week's successes, and set objectives.

If you don’t start off Monday morning with the right mindset, it’s not going to happen.

2. Drive the week.

Do not let the week drive you by naively expecting a lighter load. You have to own the week. Set the objectives and set them by day. 

Schedule with intention.

💡 Bonus: Do you pass the 8 Traits Test?

3. Divide your week into ⅓.

This is key. Have ⅓ of your week spent on existing customers, ⅓ of your week spent dealing with customers that are about ready to close, and ⅓ spent on prospecting.

One of the recurring issues I see with sales teams is that too many people spend all their time on existing customers, and they really don’t spend enough time getting new business.

Or, they spend all their time just trying to close deals and they don’t spend enough time prospecting.

4. Schedule your week with 0 open time.

Set time blocks in your calendar to be prospecting, close these deals, write those proposals, etc. But the most important meetings you set are with yourself. 

Don't let your calendar have white space.

5. Be ruthless with your routine.

If you ease into your day, the rest of the day will suffer. 

I am up at 4:50 every morning. The alarm goes off at 4:50 AM and by about 4:59, I know I’m pushing the button on the coffee maker.

I have a very set routine that takes me through my exercise, my quiet time, and all the things that I do that first hour of the day.

After that routine, I set something significant I want to accomplish. I didn’t get up at 4:50 AM just to waltz around the internet; I want to get things done (and drink x cups of coffee).

6. Follow The 10:00 AM Rule.

The 10:00 AM Rule: You aim to have accomplished something significant by 10:00 AM. 

(If you have an especially early wake-up like me, implement The 8:00 AM Rule.)

✍🏼 Sales challenge

I want you to take your phone and set an alarm to go off every morning at 10:00. When it does, ask yourself, “Have I accomplished something significant?” If you’ve accomplished something significant by 10:00 AM but the day falls apart – you still had a significant day. Make it your goal to get the big things done early in the day.

💡 Read my 6 other daily habits for operating at max productivity each day.

7. Take advantage of Monday morning and Friday afternoon.

Too many salespeople say these are "throwaway" times and think that no one wants to talk to them during these times. Myth! 

Friday afternoon phone calls are great because many times, there are people whom I can never get a hold of during the early week, and guess what? Boom, I’m able to have a conversation.

Monday mornings aren’t just great for conversations, but I can send out an email and be at the top of the list. Which emails do you look at first if you don't check your email over the weekend? The last ones that came in! It’s the same with voicemail. 

💡 Read another surprising time to have successful prospecting conversations.

8. Recognize the power of time blocking.

✍🏼 Sales challenge

As I lay out my day, I break it into 2-hour blocks. You may use 1-hour or 3-hour blocks, but whatever it is, evaluate yourself at the end.

• "Did I use the time window effectively?"
• "What did I accomplish?"

It'll up your game. Be sure to plan this same process for tomorrow's activities.

Never end the day without knowing exactly what you're going to do the next day. 

💡 Read or watch more on how top-performing salespeople manage their time.

9. Don't focus on the quota... seriously.

Your objective is your quota. I totally get that.

But, achieving your quota consists of activities, so I want you to focus on the activity. I’m not all about activity just for the sake of activity, but in order for you to reach your objective (e.g., quarterly quota), you've got to do x amount of activity. Let's break it down.

When sales teams tell me they're not making their numbers, I ask them:

• "How much time have you spent prospecting?"
• "How many phone calls did you make?"
• "How many prospects have you talked to?"

More often than not, the reason they’re not making their sales quota is that they’re not having enough conversations.

The challenge ≠ the number represented by your quota. The challenge = the number of conversations.

So, when stressed out salespeople ask me, "Why is my conversation number so low?" my response is that it's probably because they didn’t set aside enough time.

✍🏼 Sales challenge

Look at your calendar. Think, "What am I doing to reallocate time?" If you do the right activities in the right way, you'll make your sales quota.

10. Seek to improve by 1%.

I want to introduce you to CIM, the Continuous Improvement Model. It means every week, my goal is to improve myself by 1%.

What does that look like in practice?

I come up with one way to write a different, little better email, or a slightly improved voicemail. It might seem insignificant or it may even be that you stop doing an activity as opposed to starting a new one.

There are 52 weeks in a year. Even if you consider time off for vacations etc., you’re going to increase your performance by about 50%.

Does that guarantee your sales will also go up by 50%? No, but I bet it goes up 15% or 20%. I bet it goes up at least 10%, and who wouldn’t take that?

11. Invest in your personal sales development.

The remaining elements of becoming #1 on your sales team include:

2. Mastering your mind.

3. Upgrading your network.

4. Creating 3 accountability groups.

5. Building and maintaining a profitable sales process.

Time, mind, network, accountability, and process come together to empower a top-performing salesperson. It allows them to have a filter for what they accept into their day, as it'll affect their time management, mindset, contributions to their network, accountability methods, and process.

I challenge you to embark on my 5-part self-assessment to become #1 on your sales team, a high-level performer, whatever it may be that you feel is out of reach. Click here to enroll and for more information. 

Even better: join our community of sales leaders in my All Access program to get monthly masterclasses, 1-on-1 coaching, Office Hours, on-demand training, etc. for under $3 a day.

Until next month, great selling.