I work with salespeople, sales managers, and business owners every day, and there is one common theme that I have been hearing for the last five or six years. One thing of which each salesperson and business leader needs more. One thing they crave and practically beg for throughout the days … especially at the end of their days when they see their list of incomplete tasks. Everyone I work with needs more … time.
It wasn’t always like this. Remember 2009 – 2011? Salespeople were looking for things to do. They were desperate for quoting opportunities. Today, many salespeople secretly feel anxious when another sales opportunity falls in their lap. “I don’t have time to find new accounts.” “I need more time.” “If I could snap my fingers and have an extra day this week to catch up on everything – that would solve all my problems.”
Guess what? If you’ve had these thoughts in the past and you were planning to attend ISC West next week, then you have an extra week that’s just fallen into your lap. I’m sure you’ve realized this and I’m sure you’ve started thinking ahead about all the monumental things you’re going to do. Whether you’ve planned your bonus days or are still getting out from under your pile of paper, check out the best practices below for utilizing your time.
- Don’t waste this week. Parkinson’s Law states the work will expand itself to the fill the time allotted. Don’t be a victim of Parkinson’s Law. Even though your calendar is now clear next week, pretend it’s not. Attack this week with the same urgency as you would if you were heading to Las Vegas next week.
- Don’t do anything that’s not going to move the needle next week. I know you’ve always wanted to organize your closet or create a spreadsheet that calculates total cost of ownership savings or watch an entire opening round of March Madness. Don’t do it. Seriously, use next week only on the things that are going to make a difference to your sales or business. The cleanest CRM database usually belongs to the poorest salesperson … get out there and catch up on the things that are going to move your sales.
- Plan every detail of next week. Don’t let it slip. Have goals for Monday, Tuesday, etc. Make next week one of your most productive weeks of the year. What should you do? See #4…
- Make the following week your first ideal week. You know the ideal week … the one you’ve always dreamed about. The five days that include a half-day of prospecting, a networking event, time to prepare for all meetings, and fitting in visits to the gym and seeing the family. Yeah, that ideal week. Don’t fall into the trap of conducting your ideal week next week. Use next week to catch up and prepare to start your first of many ideal weeks on Monday, March 23rd.
Personally, I’m going to miss the show. I’ve grown to love ISC West (I dreaded it years ago) and was ready to speak for and meet with my clients and meet new friends. However, I understand and appreciate the difficulty of the decision, and I’m going to use the time following these four best practices.
