ENEWS > FALL 2008

Your Business in Mind
Manage Your Time and Results Will Follow

Time. That most precious of resources for sales professionals. If you could add hours to a 24-hour day to get more done, you probably would. Here are a few tips on how to work more efficiently in the time you have.

• To see exactly how you spend your time, track every minute for several days or a week. You may be surprised by how little time you are actually spending on selling.
• Once you know how you are spending your time, see how many administrative (non-selling) tasks you can do after business hours. Likewise, make sure you are spending your main business hours interacting with prospects and customers.
• If possible, do your biggest task or project first to get it out of the way.
• Make sure you are staying on track to meet your immediate and long-term sales goals.
• Plan ahead for the sales timeline for your product, keeping in mind holidays and the end of month and end of quarter.
• Don’t get distracted by every meeting request or phone call; stay focused on selling.
• Maintain consistent and timely follow-up, and make sure it’s documented.
• Start early on projects and be punctual for sales appointments.
• Be sure to plan breaks to refresh yourself and keep work in perspective. Avoid burnout.

Use all the time-saving functionality in ACT! by Sage, combined with these tips, to help you get the most out of each day.

Source: MaxPitch Media, Inc., Richmond, VA on www.justsell.com; “Time Management for Sales Pros,” Ray Silverstein, on Entrepreneur.com; “Making Time,” on www.sba.gov.

Joyce Ethridge
Senior Copywriter
Sage Software

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