On the surface, the secret to time management is simple: Be sure to spend most of your time on activities that are both urgent and important. The trick is to accurately determine what activities fall into what category and then ruthlessly avoid those that don’t meet that litmus test. Easy to say, but not always so easy to do in our distraction-filled, always-on, always-available world of chat, email, mobile phones, multi-tasking and interrupt-driven workdays.
The SiriusDecisions Sales Activity Matrix assigns sales activities to the four quadrants of core selling activities/direct engagement, core selling activities/internal, non-core-selling activities/direct engagement and non-core-selling activities/internal. One of the goals for sales operations is to reduce the amount of time sales reps spend on activities that fall into the lower left quadrant (e.g. non-core activities/internal).
The first step is to document non-core-selling activities and determine how much time reps are actually spending on specific activities. Sales rep surveys are a good place to start but should be supplemented with an annual time-and-motion study to facilitate a more fact-based analysis. Stack-rank the list of activities by the average time spent per week. Sales operations can then select the top time drains and assess potential actions that include eliminating, offloading, reassigning, expediting or automating activities.
While it’s not feasible to completely eliminate non-core-selling activities – sales reps still need to submit expense reports, answer emails, manage customer orders and attend internal meetings – continuous assessment and reduction of time spent on low-yield activities is a key step toward increased sales productivity.
Steve Silver is a Senior Research Director of Sales Operations Strategies at SiriusDecisions. Steve brings with him more than 20 years of executive-level experience spanning sales operations, sales and product marketing. Follow Steve on Twitter @jstevensilver.