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Dividing your time equally between soliciting (or marketing), selling and servicing is a time management skill that once mastered will return great benefits. During the day there are many things that come up and all of them seem urgent. You feel like you have some many things to do and they all need to get done now. This attitude causes unnecessary stress.
The key to good time management is realizing that some things are a higher priority than others. Without priority you let outside events control your time instead of you.
There are three activities in this time management skill that are top priorities for all sales people and your time should be divided equally between them:
- Soliciting or Marketing Activities
- Selling or Income Producing Activities
- Servicing Activities
The first activity in this time management skill is soliciting or marketing activities. These can include networking, sending newsletters, making sales appointments and follow up calls and preparing proposals.
Also you should include time to learn about marketing. Take time every day to study marketing ideas (books, tapes, CDs, TeleClasses, Ezines). If you really want to be a master marketer you need to take time to learn how to be one. Learn from the experts in the field.
The second activity in this time management skill is selling or income producing activities. This includes time spent with clients and time spent developing other income producing products and services.
It also includes personal development, long and short term planning, increasing your skills and growing your business. Take time to read, study and learn. Time put into planning and building your skills is an investment that pays you back as much as ten to one.
The third activity in this time management skill is servicing. Most sales people spend a majority of their time in this area. Some as high as 50% or more. It includes paperwork, mail, email, book work, errands, returning calls, organizing, etc. Your goal should be to delegate as many of these activities as possible. This will take a small investment of money; however, it will allow you to spend more time on the first two categories which will ultimately increase your income to more than compensate for the investment.
Spend some time becoming aware of how you're spending your time on each activity and then find ways to create a balance between the three.
If you work on this time management skill I believe that you'll have less stress, your income will increase and you'll have more time to enjoy life.
Related Articles:
Return to sales skills from this time management skill.
Enhance your time management and all your skills with personal sales coaching.
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