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How to manage your time so you can get more done each day in sales

Guest post by: Wayne Berry

Article Overview: How to managing your time so you can get more done each day in sales

How to manage your time so you can get more done each day in sales

Many sales people have a real challenge managing their time effectively.

The real key to making good use of your time is of course planning. Here are a few ways you can get more done in less time.

· Always ask yourself, “What is the best use of my time right now?”

Learn how to prioritize your activities. Take care of business matters during business hours, and personal activities outside of business hours. For example if you can only speak with prospects and customers between 8.00am and 6.00pm then make this your highest priority. Notice I said 8.00am to 6.00pm and not 9.00am to 5.00pm. Often you can reach people outside of these hours. This gives you an extra 10 hours per week for business activities or personal time. Imagine the impact on your results.

· Balance your life. “Wherever you are be there!!”

If you are dealing with business matters, focus on these and be totally there. You’ll get them done faster. When you take time off with family and friends be totally with them. Turn off your mobile phone or learn not to answer it. Don’t mess up your relationships or health by neglecting these important non-business dimensions of your life.

· Eliminate time wasters.

Don’t allow other people, unimportant phone calls, meetings, emails etc

interrupt your day. Learn how to say “no” or “later”. There is a time and

place for all activities, so do as much as you can outside of business

hours, but don’t neglect health, family and friends.

· Look for ways to get 2 for 1s or 3 for 1 activities into the same time



For example could you have a meeting with a colleague while exercising

or walking? Could you make some phone calls that wont require taking

notes while you are walking or driving (use hands free). What if you

could turn all driving time into phone time or listen to a motivational,

educational CD’s, mp3s etc

Could you answer emails, write reports, proposals etc during plane trips?

You’ll soon be able to get on to the internet and make phone calls while flying. For me it means that when I get home, I have cleared the

backlog and can spend more time with my family instead of doing these

things.

· Embrace technology that can save you time

For example do you have a GPS in your car? I even take mine with me

interstate and overseas for when I rent cars. Why on earth would anyone use a street directory these days. Dangerous to look at maps

and drive! GPSs are cheap today and takes the stress out of traveling for

me. I don’t have to think about where I am going.

Have you got a laptop so you can do computer work wherever you are,

complete with internet access – airports, in taxis, in hotels. If the

company won’t provide with one, get one for yourself!

Have you got an iPhone or Blackberry that you can sync with your

computer so you can have all addresses, phone numbers, diary dates

etc with you everywhere.

Can you use Video Conferencing for some face to face meetings? For example if you have to drive for an hour to see a client for an hour, and

then return to the office, you’ve just used up half a day for 1 meeting.

I’ve recently discovered some leading edge internet video technology

which is coming into Australia soon. I’ve been testing it here for the USA

company.

What if you could save travel costs, hotel accommodation, lost

productivity by using this technology to get face to face with one or more

clients and your support staff regardless of where they and you are.

Sure this is not new but doing it with high quality on the internet is new

How about for $1,60 per day?

How about sending video emails. No more typing long emails, record

high quality video emails on your computer in minutes where your client

can see your face, body language etc all included in that $1.60 per day.

I can now have face to face meetings with 1 to 32 people all on the screen at the same time, all able to talk with each other, exchange

documents, show a power point presentation, even stream video to

these people. This is nothing new, but used to be so expensive. It’s not

now. Like more details drop me an email or phone me and I’ll send you

back a personal video email.

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Why So Much Time? - Hi Evan. I'd challenge you about how long a webinar takes to prepare. There are some simple models out there that would suggest that the time you need is a lot less than you might think. Remember, you are not writing it all down and just reading it out. 2 minutes settling everyone in 5 minutes outlining the call and the ground rules of listeners (if it's interactive) 10 key points of 3 minutes 10 minutes of Q&A 5 minutes of a sales pitch 5 minutes of a review of the call 3 minutes of goodbye If you are able to manage it so that the call is even more ointeractive (Q&A with others on the call chipping in with their ideas and you act as a facilitator), you workload is even less. The only time you need to prepare is the 10 key points and the marketing/e-mails. Pretty straight-forward! Regards


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