Bill is the successful CEO of the most effective sales organization in his industry. In just ten years, his company has skyrocketed from $0 to $50M with organic growth in the very traditional copier industry. He attributes much of his success to developing a first-class sales team and asking his salespeople to sell only five hours per day.

But, what is the “Five Hour Sales Day”?

Realize What an Effective Day Is

The “Five Hour Sales Day” is a beautifully simple system, which ensures that Bill’s sales team is performing productive, sales-related activities for the majority of their day. Research by Pace Productivity shows that the average salesperson only performs 2 hours (23% of their time) of sales-related activities per day, such as sales meetings, prospecting, sales follow-up, etc.

Sadly, the majority of an average salesperson’s day is wasted performing non-sales-related activities like putting out fires, processing orders, doing paperwork, entering data, or just getting distracted.

Therefore, spending five hours on purely sales-related activities is actually a massive increase in sales output—a 250% increase on average.

Assign a Time-Value to Activities

This system works by assigning a time value to each desired sales-related activity. For example, twenty prospect calls equals one hour. An initial sales meeting equals one hour. A sales presentation equals one hour. Ten client up-sell calls equals one hour. So, you get the picture (but notice that tasks such as doing paperwork, researching, and solving client problems are not on the list). Each day of sales-related activities must then add up to five hours. After Bill’s salespeople have completed their five hours of sales work, they can go home. It’s truly that simple.

Hold the Team Accountable

The key is to stop counting the total hours in the day. Whether you manage a team or are selling yourself, forget about the eight or ten hour work day. It just leads to wasted time. Instead, only track the activities that actually matter, which will ensure that the most important sales-related activities take priority and get accomplished. In fact, Bill’s company attaches part of a salesperson’s compensation to whether or not that individual is actually achieving his goal of five hours of daily selling. This guarantees that appropriate output and high selling productivity are maintained. It also cultivates a healthy business culture, in which no one focuses on who is first to show up and last to leave the office. Instead, being hyper-efficient is what really matters.

So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to design your own “Five Hour Sales Day.” Simply allot a time value to only your critical sales-related activities, and be sure that your daily activities add up to five hours.

And, don’t forget the best part. After you or your salespeople have achieved the five hour goal, feel free to head home. This system will not only ensure an improved quality of life, by providing you with more time away from the office, but it will also enable you to hit your sales goals, eliminating daily guesswork.

How do you ensure that you hit your sales goals each quarter? Read the free Salesforce ebook below.