Sales Professionals - Segment Your Week©

We are often asked about time management and how to construct our work week so as to get the most benefit from the time we spend working. The number one excuse for not prospecting is "I don't have the time." I usually start to ask a lot of questions because I feel that time management is one of the most misunderstood subjects for sales people.

As a matter of fact, we have stopped conducting time management programs simply because I have stopped believing in them. Not that time management is not important, it is. My feeling is that one of the unique characteristics of the sales professional is that we all work somewhat differently. And the uniqueness of field sales allows us to all set up our own schedules. Therefore, we generally work best - differently.

Traditional time management training with which I am familiar focuses on a very logical structured use of time. Most of the sales professionals that I know would seem very inefficient to a time management specialist. Yet they can all be very successful following their own system.

I, for some reason, seem to work on some projects most effectively if I am in a time crunch. For other projects I like to start them as early as possible and spend a little time over several days or weeks to get them completed.

You may be the same way and not realize it.

We did some analysis of the way we work when we decided against time management training and found that we have certain times in the week where we "formally waste time." This would drive a time management person crazy. But I have found this true with a lot of sales people.

What we do is divide up the activities of our day and week into segments. It seems we all like to work in "clumps." For example I make a lot of phone calls every day. So I am on the phone for a certain amount of time and then I go and do something else. How many I make is dependent only on how I feel. (This is even contrary to some of the things we teach). But I get all of the calls made that I need to make.

When I am not making calls, I may be writing notes, articles, or proposals. I will do that until I don't feel like it anymore, and then go back to the phone or read a book or article. Sometimes I have stopped in the middle of a letter or proposal.

It seems that once I have started a project, whether I am actually working on it or not, I am thinking about it. So while I am doing something else, I find that other projects are really moving toward completion, at least in my head. When I get back to them, they get completed quickly. I keep lots of note pads around and jot down ideas as they come to me while doing other things.

This is especially true when preparing a speech or workshop. I prepare the outline first, then go on to something else. When I get back to it, I get a lot more done in a shorter time because the process has been working in my mind even though I was actually doing something else. That is why the note pads are all over the place!

If you look at your daily and weekly activities, you may find that you are the same way. You start several projects and get them done as needed.

The obvious pitfall in all of this is starting a lot of projects and not completing them. So we have to work on the premise that I may not be the most formally organized person in the world, but I will get all of my work completed in a timely manner.

The easiest way that I have found to do that is by simply segmenting the work into chunks that I feel like doing. When I know that I have to get certain things done, I will.

Therefore, in order to have the time to do one of the most important activities in your job - Prospecting - you need to segment your week.

Sell Well and Often Bill Truax Bill@BlitzCall.com

© Copyright 2006 WJ Truax

Sales Professionals - Segment Your Week© - To learn more about this author, visit Bill Truax's Website.

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