Today, I want to talk to you about time management vs self management. Now, here's one thing we know about time, it manages itself very, very well. In fact, you don't have to worry about time managing itself, what you do need to worry about, at least what we see around the country as we coach and train salespeople, is the concept of self-management.
The reason why you need to worry about it is because of this fundamental truth, your future self cannot be trusted.
How many times do you go to the grocery store and decide that, this is the week I'm going to eat healthy only to throw away most of it by week's end? That's right, your future self cannot be trusted.
So, one of the things that we'd like to talk about today is the concept of what do successful salespeople do when it comes to managing themselves?
Self management, not time management.
I want to give you four things that we think successful salespeople do.
- Successful salespeople do not waste time - Here's a number, 1,440 - or better yet, the number of minutes in a day. Successful salespeople DO NOT waste even one of them. So, make them count!
- They abandon to-do lists - They abandon to-do lists. Sounds crazy right? However, research has indicated that about 41% of things put on a to-do list never get accomplished. Instead, successful salespeople schedule tasks directly onto their calendar, which has a much greater likelihood of these tasks actually getting accomplished.
- Successful salespeople only check their email a couple times a day! Maybe once when they get to the office, maybe once after lunch and maybe once before they leave for the day. Is it really necessary when that beep or that ding goes off to look and see "Oh my goodness, what is that?" It interrupts your flow of energy on the tasks you're working on and successful people do not allow email to be a "time suck" on their day.
- Successful salespeople do the hard things first - I think it was Brian Tracy that said, "If you gotta kiss a frog in your day, kiss it early." Successful salespeople embrace that. They do the hard things first. Including scheduling the hours that they will prospect. 1,440 - I've used 3 or 4 of them this morning...it's up to YOU to use the rest. Have a great day!
So, now that we've given you OUR top four, what are some other habits that YOU think successful salespeople should follow?
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Time Management vs. Self Management Video:
