Planning your goals for the week, time blocking your schedule, and executing with ruthlessness are where you will separate yourself from everyone else.
In the OSR Academy, our 12-month online/offline sales development program that includes attendance at our annual Sales Fundamentals Workshop in Fort Worth, each student submits their Weekly Game Plan to us every week. Why such accountability?
Because actual sales results are a lagging indicator of doing the right things. If you forecast your month with a sales pipeline (existing accounts + prospecting targets), plan your week specifying the top three things that must get done, and plan your day with at least some time invested in prospecting (yes, every day), then results will predictably follow . . . over the long run.
Despite what you read online, there’s no shortcuts and no hacks in sales. However, there are seven counterintuitive scheduling tips to keep in mind:
ONE
You—not your customers—are the priority.
I know. Sounds like heresy.
You must be in control of your time and where you choose to spend it. If you wake up every day and allow your phone and your email inbox to direct your attention, you’ll always be playing defense.
In sales, defense may keep you employed, but it won’t win you championships. You need to go on offense, attack with your agenda, and impose your will on the day.
TWO
Embrace the chunk.
The human mind is not designed to execute multiple functions at the same time. Every time you switch tasks, you lose time. Chunking your time minimizes these switching costs and allows you to focus more.
For example, block two hours dedicated to prospecting calls. Ninety minutes to get started on a takeoff. Fifty minutes designated for email.
If you’re thinking, “No really, Hartmann, my ability to multi-task is one of my best attributes,” well, please allow me to be candid here: You’re wrong.
Humans are not designed to multi-task. Focus on one thing at a time. (Again: If you work with your email inbox constantly open—let alone have the damn thing dinging every time an email comes in!—your productivity will suffer).
THREE
It’s okay to ignore your phone.
I’m giving you permission. If you feel you’re too busy to sit for a moment and actually think about what’s happening, that’s a sign.
Now, am I aware that responsiveness to customers and prospects is highly valued? Yes, I am. So, how does that work?
Well, just don’t ignore your phone for long. As little as five minutes of solitude can do wonders to help you clear your mind. Try it.
FOUR
Refer to your sales pipeline daily.
Whether you use our Simple Sales Pipeline®, a yellow legal pad, or the back of a bar napkin, I don’t care how you document your existing accounts and prospecting targets for the month.
When updated at the beginning of the month, your sales pipeline becomes a checklist to guide your sales efforts for the rest of the month.
If you don’t have a sales pipeline, you’re flying blind; hope and gut feel underpin your personal sales strategy. While it’s not impossible to succeed with this strategy, there’s a smarter, more reliable way to do it—developing a sales pipeline and referring to it daily.
FIVE
Takeoffs do not directly drive sales results.
I know—this may seem like the blather from a mere tourist to the world of LBM sales.
While takeoffs are obviously important, they do not represent a sales activity. A sales activity is defined by the sales rep placing themselves in the path to hear the word no.
Furthermore, I’m jaded by years of having sales reps enter my office at PulteGroup in purchasing and immediately saying, “Got any plans? I can do a takeoff and give you some pricing.”
No discussion about NFPOs: my needs, fears, pains, and opportunities for growth. No discussion about goals nor questions about our top corporate initiatives.
Just an offer to do a bunch of paperwork.
Are tight takeoffs important? Yes.
Are they a sales activity? No.
SIX
You’re probably not selling enough.
Many sales reps willingly admit they haven’t had to perform any real sales activities—intentionally placing themselves in the path to hear the word no—over the past several years. This means sales reps have developed habits focused on account management and customer service, not sales.
Sometimes the simplest advice offered to underperforming sales reps is that they need to spend more time selling.
SEVEN
Don’t be too hard on yourself—and start now.
The goal isn’t perfection—it’s progress. Focus on being just a bit better than you were yesterday. Start now by quantifying your sales pipeline for June.
Identify your top three priorities fornext week now.
Tomorrow morning, plan your ideal day in thirty-minute chunks.
Then document what actually happened.
If you want to see the Weekly Game Plan in action to better understand how it’s helped thousands of LBM sales reps and why we’re so passionate about time management in the OSR Academy, click here.
Thanks for reading.
I’ll be back next Thursday.
The Weekly Game Plan creates the structure; discipline brings the results. That’s exactly what we build in the OSR Academy—our 12-month sales development program designed for both reps and managers. The Weekly Game Plan becomes the foundation for coaching reps on time management, helping them spend more time selling and less time reacting.
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Bradley Hartmann & Co.
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Contact Bradley Hartmann:
bradley@bradleyhartmannandco.com
The Craft of LBM Sales 