'Being busy' results in us wanting to do 'too many' things at once. The biggest mistake (sales) people often make is that they start 'multitasking'. As a result, we make too many mistakes, don't do things as well as we could, get stressed and therefore multitask even more, disrupt our private work balance and disappoint ourselves and others.
"When you try to do two things at once it takes you, on average, 40% more time to complete both tasks than if you were to do them in a concentrated and distraction-free sequential fashion."
Many account managers, sales managers and senior sales bosses are like people who also too often say "yes" to things that do not contribute sufficiently to the ultimate intended result. They have too little insight into what the real goals are NOW. Goals such as: Where do you really want your company and your client to be later on? Where do you want to be? Where do you want to be in three months and what must be realized in one month? What must be realized in a week and what has priority today?
Important
Not having a clear enough picture of what is really important NOW means that we allow ourselves to be too much distracted by less important matters and, as a result, we are busy, busy, busy. During our daily work we are too busy with unimportant emails, meetings, putting out harmless local fires that would extinguish themselves anyway and all kinds of other things that keep us from our real work. Each week we are mostly too "busy" paying attention to someone else's agenda, instead of focusing on what is really important.
"'Busy' is also the new lazy."
We are also too lazy to map out what is really important NOW so that we can say 'NO' to things that do not contribute to what makes us successful. We are often too "lazy" to start the day with our "high priorities. Instead, we usually start by emptying our mailbox. Before we realize it, we are 'busy' again with all kinds of things that can wait or should be done by someone else or not at all. Too often we say 'yes' to what feels urgent and postpone for too long what is really important.
Critical success factors
Good sales planning and account scheduling are two of the critical success factors for sales managers and account executives to not only be successful in their jobs, but also to keep it all a little fun. With these important tools, we know what to focus on and can argue why we should sometimes say "no" to other things. They help us excel while keeping personal and work in balance by accelerating when we need to and resting when we can.
Take the sales plan ... If it really is a plan, it should be critically reviewed every month or at least every quarter to see where we are now and whether we need to make adjustments. Many times the sales plan is only on the agenda at the beginning or just before the beginning of the year, only to disappear into a drawer. This is like getting into your car, letting the navigation system determine your route, promptly turning off your navigation and at no point during your trip checking the route plan to see where you are, whether you are still on track and whether your Estimate Time of Arrival (ETA) is still correct. In that case, how prosperous would your trip be?
"Look at your sales plan and account plan as if they were your navigation system."
Unfortunately, most sales plans and account plans do not lend themselves to serving as a sales navigation system. They are too much about what is behind us and too little about where we want to be next week, next month or next quarter.
Saying 'NO'
Sales managers and account managers who do have their schedules perfectly in order do not have to be "busy. 'Busy' is when you want to do too much in too little time and when you don't take the unexpected sufficiently into account. Busy' is when your system allows you to start the day with the wrong things, making your mailbox even fuller and your pile of 'to do's' at the end of the week even bigger than at the beginning of the week.
Want to be a little less "busy"? Then start investing in: identifying what is really important (and what is less important); mapping out how to get the fastest and best results; arguing where the focus really should be and that you can say NO to "time wasters.
In short, put some time into how to maximize your sales time with the help of a good sales plan and good account plans. Of course, Tony Crabbe' s book "Busy" is also a good investment of your time. The trick is only to translate some of it to your practice as a sales manager or account manager.
Key Tip: "FOCUS on what really matters to get results and you will never again be unintentionally busy, busy, busy."
~H. Ben Mastboom, helps companies as a frequent speaker, consultant,
coach and trainer how to become the preferred speaker and excel.
There are two master classes related to this topic:
Master Class: Time Management for Sales Managers and Account Managers
Master Class: Sales Planning: 'How do I make a good sales plan?'