Let us face the facts … time is the currency of life and it is sacred. In sales, you only have so many hours in the day to manage your work and your personal time. Do you make the best of your time or do your bad habits contribute to you accomplishing less than you should in a day? Some days it may feel like workloads are piling up, but the hours are not. The first step to addressing time-wasting is to identify the types of time-wasters.
The ASAP’ers
Everyone wants to think of themselves as someone that gets things done. For some of us, our own self-worth depends on our vision of being busy. But getting things done ASAP at the sacrifice of another task can be wasteful.
For example, have you ever had a customer call with a simple problem—a problem that could be handed off to someone else to take care of? Instead of utilizing resources, we stop what we are doing to help them now. In retrospect, this problem that was somewhat urgent, but trivial, prevents you from making sales calls that would have used your time better in the long run.
All too often the “ASAPer” succumbs to the lure of the present task and miss precious opportunities to focus on efforts that will promote growth of business. Each time ASAPer’s grab at any task that comes their way, they compromise their ability to use their time more effectively.
The Settlers of Status Quo
Established sales professionals have habits that put them in a state of comfort. They make good money and don’t feel the need to expend more energy to be more effective because “it works.”
While this may work for some, the world is rapidly changing, so the demands for new techniques and habits are changing with it. The “Settlers of Status Quo” are content in their current state of work, which can lead to ineffectiveness.
Are you using the same weekly routine to organize your workweek, collecting customer information or determining whom to call on? Contentment with status quo almost always means you’ll never realize your full potential.
The I Can Do It Allers
It’s a natural tendency for salespeople to work alone. The ability to handle this responsibility is normally a positive trait for a salesperson to have. However, many salespeople insist on doing it all themselves no matter how time-consuming the task may be. The truth is that these tasks can be done better by others in the organization if the salesperson would be willing to solicit the help. Too much time that could otherwise be used on selling is wasted when salespeople insist they can do it all.
There are hundreds of time-wasting habits in sales, but these are the most common. No matter which one you identify with more, you can correct them and be on your way to improving your time management efforts throughout the day.
K. Justin Restaino is vice president of Titan List & Mailing Services Inc. For more than 13 years, he has led Titan’s Mortgage Division, helping lenders of all capacities grow their businesses utilizing targeted direct mail. With a specialized focus in refinance and purchase markets, Restaino has the insight for proper data and mail application for success. He may be reached by phone at (800) 544-8060, ext. 204 or e-mail
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