Professional salespeople must have the ability to effectively plan a strategy for achieving their goals and manage both time and territory to do so.
A salesperson’s most important asset is their time. Salespeople lose time which can lead to lost sales and earnings. This profession is full of challenges, including planning, organizing, and allocating priority time for your selling activities.
You are forced to be more productive and effective with the changing economy and increasing competition. The most successful salespeople are more competitive because they work more innovatively and have mastered planning.
Too many salespeople waste their time on activities that are not related to selling.
They spend their time putting out fires, managing administrative tasks, and other non-core sales tasks. Then they wonder why their pipelines are so small and why they don’t have enough sales budgets.
Many will waste their time tracing and retracing sales territory without a solid sales plan.
They make frequent calls to “low lifetime value accounts” and, out of desperation, will drive down the road to get the minor expressions of interest.
Poor territory management and sales planning can lead to missed opportunities, missed targets, and poor results.
Sales Planning
There are many Sales Planning methods, but the focus must be on execution. Otherwise, the plans won’t get implemented! Implementation is often deemed too tricky if the planning process is too complex or lacks clear and tactical objectives.
A good sales plan is key to consistent and predictable sales results. A better Sales Performance Plan will allow you to build, nurture and maintain a strong sales pipeline. A well-designed, easily implemented, and managed Sales Performance Plan will help you reach your sales goals and meet your sales quotas.
You can also decrease revenue peaks or valleys by using the power of sales performance planning. Professional salespeople should have a clear Sales Performance Plan. This clearly defines your key objectives and the actions you need to achieve them.
Salespeople need to be able to manage their time and prioritize their activities with a Performance Plan.
How to Manage Your Time
Many salespeople have the same issues. Many salespeople feel overwhelmed, disorganized, and stressed, and have no control over their lives. There are many people who have found “a better way”! There are many people who have found “a better way!” The good news is that you can too. You can master time management and plan with effort, coaching, and time.
It is essential to understand that planning and time management are not simple concepts.
Time is not something you can manage; it’s something you have to manage.
Concentrate on the results and not be busy.
Salespeople spend too much time focusing on the wrong things and end up losing their productivity. All of the highest achievers in sales, as well as in other areas of life, such as entertainment, sport, and public service, have developed the ability to focus on what needs to be done and how to do it.
A well-designed sales plan will allow you to focus on your goals and achieve them. Ask your sales manager for recommendations on someone who can help you manage territory and time effectively. You can also decide to make a decision today and become a time manager and expert planner. Buy the best five books on the topic, listen to Time Planning CDs in your car, and attend some time planning seminars. Google “time management,” “sales planning,” and you can read, learn, and apply. Like any skill, goal setting and time management, planning, and territory management are all skills that can be learned with effort, dedication, and time.
Ian Segal is a leading authority and coach in Australia in sales management. He has been involved with the training, coaching, and development of sales managers for more than two decades.
Ian has 25 years of experience in sales and sales management. He also leads an HR and training department. This gives him a strong sense of fiscal reality as well as practicality.
Ian works directly with business owners, novice and experienced, in a variety of industries, selling disciplines. His goal is to improve sales management practices and transform sales results.
Ian is the author of “Bulletproof Your Sales Team: The 5 Keys to Turbo-Boosting Your Sales Team’s Results,” as well as a variety of articles and white papers, including “The fish stinks at the head!” “Why Sales Training Doesn’t Work.”
Ian has an insatiable appetite for learning about selling and people management. He has tirelessly sought answers to the question, “How can some people sell while most people don’t?”
