A sales management technique that doubles productivity

Sales Management to Increase Productivity

Do you have sales people that are busy, busy all day, but get to the end of their week without having achieved anything of substance?

I am about to show you a sales management technique I learned from a world renown marketing expert, Eban Pagan. It’s a technique that you as their sales manager/coach, can help them get at least twice as much done in a day, whilst actually working less time to do it.

Here’s how it works:

Most sales people start typically their day off by first checking their voice mail box and their email and then getting to work. What they don’t realize is that they are almost guaranteeing that they will have a low productivity day when they do this. In other words, they will often get to the end of their day without having accomplished anything substantial!

Why is this?

Because if sales people check their email and their voice mail first thing, they are unconsciously telling themselves that whatever other people want them to do that day, is more important than what they think they should do. They are basically giving others control of their diaries before they get anything done, before they do anything important. This leads to them spending the entire day, doing one thing after another, that other people want them to do, never getting around to the important things that build their business, make sales and get them to where they want to go in their lives.

So here’s what they need to do instead. If you want your sales people to double their productivity, have them invest the first 2 hour block of their working day on only important, business building, money making projects. Activities that that they know is the right thing to be doing that day.

Only once they have worked this solid two hour block, only then should they check their email and voice mail and then follow up on obligations and requests from others.

By using this simple technique, they will automatically begin their days by doing what’s most important first that day, and get that sense of accomplishment feeling right off the bat. They will also begin to see and realize that most of the demands, interruptions and requests coming from others aren’t productive and throw them of their chosen course for building business. As a result they will then begin the process of putting systems in place, to prevent them from happening at all.

So here’s 3 action steps sales management can support them with right now:

1. In your next sales management coaching session with them. Have them open up their calendar and have them block out the first two hours of their working day – Marking this time out as “high leverage productivity time”
2. Then support them to come up with a list of the most important projects that they should be working on over the next 90 days. Then write in the name of that project to be worked on in each block at the beginning of that day.
3. Finally make sure they put an appointment in the diary right after the 2 hour block that says, check email and voice mail. So that only after they have completed their highest productivity work, they check their email and voice email and find out what others for them to do that day.

As you can see, if your salespeople will do this one simple thing, where they invest the first 2 hours of every working day working on a high value, business building or money making project, they will probably at least double what they accomplish each day and increase their sales success and their income.

But I want my sales people to make their first sales call by 8:00 AM!

Now you might be saying, yes but I want my sales people out, making their first sales call by 8:00 AM?

So I would first of all ask you, is that the most productive, highest leverage thing that they should be doing to build their business and accomplish their sales goals? If it is, well great then they are doing the right activity. I would also be challenging you to then ensure that what you mean by a “first sales call” is clearly defined. In other words, is it a new business sales call; is it an existing account sales call or is it a customer complaint call? What exactly should the call be and what should the expected outcomes of the call be?

Also, if your people are expected to be out in the field all day long making sales calls, then when should they be scheduling their 2 hour block of “High Leverage Productive Time”?

Maybe in the beginning it shouldn’t be 2 hours a day, maybe just an hour. Then, and here’s the big question. If your salespeople did carve out a 2 hour productive time slot in their diary every day, what exactly should they be working on?

If you aren’t sure this will work for your team, then here’s a tip I have suggested to the many sales managers I have coached personally over the years. Try this exercise for yourself. Follow the recipe above, for yourself for the next 30 days. Watch your own productivity increase. Then you will know the pitfalls and challenges that you will be able to advise your team on for them to inculcate this powerful productivity practice into their business.

Related posts:

1. Sales Management – Part 2 – Sales Productivity
2. Sales Management-5 Steps to Boosting Your Sales Team’s Productivity
3. Sales Management: 2 Steps for Sales Managers to Get Their Boss’s Attention