TIME MANAGEMENT – Definition and Skills required - AGM.

To the sales professional, his stock in trade is his time so everyone has to learn Time Management –Definition and Skills required to be successful.

Time is a perishable commodity, yet very few people value is as a precious resource. You use it or lose it is totally upon you. A commission salesperson gets compensated for results, not reasons. You get paid for accomplishments, not activities. Productivity depends on the effective use of time. People, who waste valuable minutes, eventually lose hours and days not realizing the loss until it is too late.

Sales Professional does not waste his time in dilly-dallying, gossiping, chit-chatting or drinking endless cups of tea or coffee. A good sales professional prioritize his work and ensure that his time is spent on important matters and with important people.

It may be the best time or the worst for anything but this is the only time we have. A good professional values his time and put a price tag on himself. He doesn’t sit at the reception for two hours, waiting for the prospect to see him. Within a matter of ten to fifteen minutes, he walks up to the secretary and says, ‘It seems Mr X is busy at this time, I Have another appointment to go to. Let us set up another time that will be mutually more convenient.’ The key word here is ‘mutually’ because you respect your own and the other person time.

Some suggestions for effective utilization of time:

1.   Make every effort to qualify your prospect.
2.  Divide your prospects into three categories: hot leads, Lukewarm and cold leads. Go after the hot leads first, then the lukewarm and then the cold. Priorities this set.
3. Good professionals continue consistently on their growth path. The key word is consistency, to avoid both feast and famine.
4. Don’t allow the unscheduled visitor to drop in. These are people who don’t do their own job and like to waste other peoples time too.
5. Don't make unnecessary friendly calls and waste other people’s time as well as yours- If you have time in your schedule between meetings, think about how you can efficiently meet new prospects and do some fact-finding.
6. Through your actions, always let your customer know you respect their time. Like always confirm your appointments in advance.
7. Have a good night’s sleep. A well-rested body and mind function energetically the next day. It will help you increase productivity and will give your prospects a better vibe.
8.  Keep yourself physically fit
9.  Paperwork: Things that sale people find difficult to handle. However, without a logical system, there is no way we can stay in the profession successfully.
10. Follow up: When follow up is required after talking to a potential client or after sending a proposal, if they are followed up after too long, the client might have forgotten. This would put the salesperson out of business. Relying on memory alone is a recipe for disaster. Hence, it is crucial to develop your own external memory jogger system that would ensure a timely follow-up. The key word here is external.

Conclusion: We all have a waiting time in life-Winners wait for their destination and losers wait for their destiny.

Utilizing time properly is a matter of few things like prioritizing, Self-discipline, Consistency, Commitment, Follow up, Result-oriented and Plan for the unplanned.

A good professional understands that like an arrow shot, spoken words and time lost never come back. Hence, time lost is life lost.

I also have a blog on Goal setting- SMART, Personal (Short, Medium or Long term)

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