Productivity secrets, habits, and hacks vary for everyone. In the sales industry, improved productivity can translate to a more efficient sales process and a higher close rate. So what’s a salesperson to do?
In a Salesforce survey of some of the sales industry’s top thought leaders, more than half of respondents reported drinking coffee at some point in the day, and nearly one third said exercise gives them a productive edge. Sleep also played an important role in the their productivity: Thought leaders reported an average sleep time of 7.2 hours a night, which is slightly above the average for U.S. adults (6.8 hours).
Productive people are generally well organized and have a handle on what their week will look like. For starters, break up your day into chunks—working in 90-minute intervals maximizes productivity. Short breaks can increase concentration, alertness, focus, and work speed. Then, plan your day before it starts (like every evening before you leave for the day). Beyond the basics, there are tools like distraction-blocking apps to free up some time in your day and CRM tools to grade leads and clean up your database.
Ready for more productivity tips? Read on for sales-specific ideas to up your productivity game.
In a Salesforce survey of 25 of the sales industry’s top thought leaders:
- 54% include coffee at some point in their daily routine
- 32% say planning their week as important to their productivity
- 27% report exercise gives them a productive edge
- 32% felt their CRM was indispensible to get things done
- Average reported sleep time: 7.2 hours
- Almost every respondent exercises
Break up Your Day
Organize and plan each day ahead
- Setting a rough schedule will help stave off procrastination or missed tasks
- One study found sales reps were most productive when they assigned themselves only 3 tasks per day
Work in intervals and take breaks
- Working in 90 minute intervals maximizes productivity
- Short breaks can increase:
- Concentration
- Alertness
- Work speed
- Focus
Turn off email for periods of the day
- Turn off email notifications and ignore them until you’ve knocked out morning tasks
- It takes an average of 64 seconds to recover each time we’re interrupted by an email
- Business users send and receive an average of 121 emails every day
- This is expected to grow to 140 emails by 2018
Consider distraction-blocking apps
- Interruptions of just 2.8 seconds double the likelihood that an employee will make an error
- A distraction lasting 4.4 seconds triples the likelihood of an error
- SelfControl
- Blocks access to mail servers and specified websites (like social media platforms) for a pre-determined time period
- Concentrate
- Allows users to create an activity then customize actions accordingly—block sites, open documents, set up spoken alerts to stay on task
- RescueTime
- Analyzes the amount of time users spend on certain windows, websites, or applications
Stick to Your Schedule
Schedule your prospecting
- Decide how much time per day you need to allocate to prospecting
- Commit to this time block each day for a constant flow of leads and a more reliable schedule
Schedule administrative time
- Schedule a specific time each day to handle administrative tasks including:
- Processing sales paperwork
- Handling customer issues
- Follow-up emails
- Switching from task to task will leave you feeling drained
- Instead, save administrative tasks for one set hour per day so you can focus on appointments, cold calls, and other big-picture items the rest of the day
Schedule meetings for the afternoon
- Mornings should be devoted to deep work and projects that require focus
- People are also less likely to accept morning meeting requests
- 9 AM time slot: only 35% of people accepted
- 3 PM slot: 45% of people accepted
Easy Productivity Hacks for Salespeople
Tighten your lead selection criteria
Use your CRM system to identify the types of sales leads that tend to convert easily to customers
Clean up your CRM database
Pass through once monthly to clean out bad or inaccurate data so you can better track your sales efforts
Enhance your research tools
- Every once in a while, check in on the tools you use to find leads and research prospective clients
- See if there are new or better tools to work into your routine
- Make sure your tools integrate with your CRM system to stay organized
Revisit your sales messages
- Revisit your core sales message
- Rework it, make it more succinct and hone in on what works and what doesn’t work
- Personalize template emails to appeal directly to each lead
Don’t sweat the loss of a lead
- A lost lead means less wasted time
- Focus on truly interested leads
Get to know your competition
- A qualified lead will buy from you or your competition
- Ask prospects who else is calling them
- Accelerate or adapt your sales activities to make up for any differences
- Create notes on each lead’s record so you know which other companies they’re talking to and why
Follow through
- If you make a commitment to call or email a prospect to follow up, make sure you do it no matter what
- A simple follow through can save time on lost leads
- Schedule alerts through your CRM system so you know exactly who to call, why, and when
Conclusion:
Productivity isn’t a one-size-fits-all concept. But by adopting some of these effective productivity tips, you’ll be at the top of your sales game.
