Work Less to Achieve More Sales? Follow These Effective Habits

Two months ago, a company in New Zealand implemented four-day workweek reports that the result is so successful and now they will make it permanent. Its employees respond that they have higher productivity, better work-life balance, and lower stress levels during the trial period.

Should we follow this practice?

Before answering this question, do you know if you are paid for days in the office or based on output?

I think most of the people, especially sales reps, will say that they are paid by output. Whatever you agree or not with a four-day workweek, your income depends on the output within a time bound. That is so-called productivity!

“Time is money.” ~Benjamin Franklin

3-steps high productivity planning

Every salesperson wants to have 48 hours a day to produce more results. However, we can only manage well our time to be more productive.

If time is money, how do you put every cent into the most important thing? How should we prioritize tasks and make the best use of our time?

–      Set your objectives smartly

You have to work on what matters to you as explained before.

As a salesperson, my objective is to sell, sell and sell. It will increase my company’s revenue and then my annual income eventually.

You may also set your goals as signing several frame contracts per year in B2B sales environment. Remember that a salesperson’s key objective is never operation or administration.

Besides, your goals have to be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound.

For example, a SMART sales objective is like X million USD of Y strategic product within 6 months. It must be realistic with a deadline and aligned with the company’s business objective.

Put your objective in the first page of your notebook to remind you every day! Setting smart objectives is the first and most important thing to do.

–      Prioritize them well

A sales manager’s objectives may include prospecting new customers, managing existing accounts, training new sales reps and improving skills.

So which one is the first, second or third priority if our time is for the most important objectives?

I always list down why I should do it and the consequence of not doing it in the short, middle and long term. (Extension reading: My New Year’s Resolution as a Salesperson)

All objective has its own importance depending on each business nature and cycle. If you don’t have a clear idea of it, I suggest that you should always invest your time to improve your sales skills which will give you a huge return later on.

–      Schedule your sales activities

Now you have your objectives prioritized. How are you going to carry on?

Don’t leave it on the wall to be reviewed next year. Set a monthly, weekly and daily activity schedule immediately.

You may ask why I have to do it on the daily basis. As a B2B salesperson, I may not control my bonus daily, weekly or even monthly. But I can definitely control my monthly, weekly and daily activities which will influence my income ultimately.

Now you are ready to implement those sales activities. Put those activities into your Google or Outlook calendar to remind you every day. Remember to monitor the progress every week with a small reward if you on the schedule.

“A Goal Is A Dream With A Deadline.” – Napoleon Hill

7 tips for high productive sales time management

Salespeople always have very tight schedules every day with meetings, calls, and reporting. In this dynamic nature, how can we get more time for our prioritized objectives such as prospecting new customers and improving skills? Here I will share 7 daily time management tips of highly productive salespeople.

–      Start your work by reviewing your daily activities

Start a day with reviewing your agenda! On the one hand, this habit will keep you on the schedule. On the other hand, you can use it to think about how you can finish those daily tasks successfully.

–      Focus, focus, and focus

We all know that we have to focus on our jobs. However, there are so many distractions every day to keep us away from prospecting.

One of the biggest distractions is the email. If you are reading more than 5 times email per day, you are wasting too much time on it. Besides, you can set templates of meeting invitation, basic introduction and so on. It will save you a large amount of time.

The other distraction nowadays is Social Media Apps. Do you live and sleep with new feeds 24 hours? There are many distraction-free Apps, like Forest and Qualitytime, to help you quit social media apps gradually.

–      Group appointments

You can save your transportation time back and forth from your office or hotel if you batch appointments in the same area. Have some plan B as well if your meeting is canceled in the last minute.

–      Group repeatable Tasks

When you do the same tasks several times, you will do it faster in the end. Reserve a period of time every week to make only cold calls or write only introduction emails. You will have better concentration and higher productivity.

–      Ask the right question

“Even if you’re calling on high-quality leads, a certain percentage won’t be potential customers because they don’t need your offering or don’t have the money to buy it. The quicker you identify these dead-end ideas, the more time you can spend on prospects that might convert.” –Geoffrey James.

The key to moving faster in your sales funnel is to ask the right questions to your prospects in the very beginning. What is the job title, function, spending power in his or her level?

Do you know if they are the gatekeeper, influencer, decision maker, or even nobody to your business? You must focus on quality leads with a higher possibility of purchase.

–      Give the right answer

After targeting quality leads, they are going to ask you to offer more info for evaluation. Be sure that you are giving the right answer they are looking for. This will get you the next YES quicker.

Identify their deepest interest and pain points with the right value proposition. If needed, optimize your value proposition to fit your prospects’ need. (Extension reading: Improve B2B Sales with Entrepreneurial Spirit)

–      Do what you are good at

You are better doing something you are good at and leave operation, administration, and financing for other professionals. Trust your colleagues and let your team do their own jobs. Then you have more time to do prospecting and closing.

“The shoemaker makes a good shoe because he makes nothing else.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

In conclusion, work smarter is the key to achieve more B2B sales.

Through prioritizing objectives and managing well your sales activities, you can definitely boom your sales productivity and income.

Try these effective habits above and tell me which high productivity practice you use in your business!

Please write your comments below to help everyone! Don´t forget to follow the blog www.leadstosuccess.me if you want to check my coming posts!

P.S. Before you go, you may also be interested in the following articles:

Less than 1% of your Leads will Go to Leads? Improve it Now

Optimism gets you more Business

POST WRITTEN BY

Sarah Lin

A strategic business development professional with +15 years proven business track record in Telecommunication and IT. She is experienced in managing key accounts and developing international business opportunities by building effective project teams. With a natural love of new ventures, this results in her ability to take risks and opportunities each time. Then her unique insights from cultural integration will definitely boom your business to the next level in this new era of globalization.

Life is a journey, only you can decide how to embrace it!