You waste time! A lot of time. And so do I.
It's an epidemic in the world today. One of the biggest challenges that organizations and salespeople face is the lack of productivity while feeling like they work all of the time.
Curt Steinhorst, recently wrote a book on this subject. In his book, "Can I Get Your Attention," Curt says, "We confuse busyness and activity with actual work, so what feels like overworked is actually overwhelmed."
Wow! That is a truth bomb!
How often do you put in a full 8, 9, or 10 hours of work where you were 'busy' the whole time, but at the end of the day, you realize that you weren't very productive? If you're like me, it's too often.
Your goal every day should not be too busy, but rather productive in generating new and incremental revenue! That's how we should measure success.
3 Major Time Wasters for Salespeople and How You Can Fix Them
1. Social Media
Yes, in the past, I have said that you should use social media (Linkedin, Facebook, and Instagram) to connect and engage with prospects, and you should, but social media is a black hole for time-wasting.
In writing this blog, I just wasted 30-minutes on Facebook trying to find a quote. During your workday, social media should be used as a tool, not a distraction.
2. Hope is Not a Strategy
Far too often, salespeople will keep prospects in their pipeline way too long because it gives them hope. It's false hope, but it makes them feel better.
However, by keeping prospects "alive" in your pipeline, you are wasting time on accounts that will not generate new business. It's smarter and better to cut them loose and focus on real pending business.
3. Urgent Matters
Salespeople are control freaks. We don't like to delegate work to assistants or even account managers because we don't believe they can do the job as well as we can. That is a mistake. By spending time on tasks that may be urgent, but are unimportant, we are wasting time. You should spend your time on revenue-generating activities, not work that makes us feel 'busy'.
As you can see, it's easy to trick yourself into thinking that because you have been busy that you've been productive. But, the opposite is true. Our busyness has actually kept us from being productive.
Look for ways to eliminate 'busy' work from your day, so that you can instead focus on important revenue-generating tasks and work.
