Sales professionals are a special breed—part detective, part therapist, and 100% magician when it comes to making deals happen. But even the best closers can struggle with time management, which often feels like juggling flaming torches while riding a unicycle. Missed follow-ups, endless emails, and meetings that could’ve been emails—sound familiar?
The secret to sales success isn’t just charisma; it’s mastering your time like a pro. Here’s how:
- The Power Hour: Block off a golden hour each morning to tackle high-priority tasks—no distractions, no coffee-fetching, no “just one more scroll” on social media. Mark Twain famously called this “eating your frog first thing”. His point was that if you eat a frog first thing in the morning, the rest of the day seems great!
- The Two-Minute Rule: If it takes less than two minutes, do it now. Respond to that email. Send that follow-up. No more “I’ll get to it later”—because later becomes never. If it’s going to take longer than two minutes, put it on your to-do list and mark it as an A or B. An A needs to be done today. A B is also important but not as urgent. If it doesn’t get done today, it can be rolled over to tomorrow without something “evil” happening.
- Time Blocking: Schedule your day like you schedule your sales calls. If prospecting is at 10 AM, treat it like a client meeting—non-negotiable.
- Ditch the Time Suckers: Some calls and meetings drag on longer than a bad first date. Set time limits, keep conversations focused, and avoid the dreaded “one more thing” spiral.
- Start With a Plan & Not Your Email: The average person opens their email within 6 seconds of getting to their computer! In the pre-email days, that would be like spending the first – and usually the best – part of your day going to the mail room and ripping open the snail mail that was dropped into your physical inbox the night before.