Time is equal for everyone, so why is it that some people get so much more done in the same amount of time?
Top 20 Time Wasters
In following list of the top twenty time wasters for salespeople, note those that cause you difficulty.
- Handling Client “Emergencies”
- Poor Territory Management
- Paperwork & Email Management
- Personal Phone Calls
- Setting Priorities
- Office Chatter
- Un-Planned Sales Calls
- Unprepared For Client Meetings & Presentations
- Office Work
- Food Distractions
- Internet Surfing
- Being Too Detail Oriented
- Indecisiveness
- Sidetracked by Non-Moneymaking Tasks
- Taking Too Much Time on Unprofitable Opportunities
- Not Spending Enough Time In Front Of Proper Decision Makers
- Disorganization
- Not Having a Well-Defined Sales System
- Deficient Delegation Skills/Resources
- Limited Sales Skills
What is your time worth?
“What is your time worth?” is the foremost important factor to pay attention to in time management.
Here’s a little computation to figure out what your time is worth. On average we work 20 days per month multiplied by twelve months per year for a total of 240 days per year less two weeks vacation and about 10 sick days gives us a total of 220 days of work per year.
At an average workday of 7.5 hours, we work 1650 hours in a year (days of work multiplied by hours per day is 220x7.5=1650 hours worked per year). You may wish to adjust this number for the average hours worked in one day, depending upon your work. Just remember to factor in those days you take off early to pick up the kids or go to the doctor to come up with an average.
Now take your annual earnings and divide by 1650 (or the number you came up with). For our example, let’s just say a salesperson was making $65k annually including all base plus commissions/bonuses. This means that on an hourly basis that salesperson’s time is worth $39.39 per hour.
So if your time is worth almost $40 per hour, how do you organize those precious minutes? Keep this thought in your head at all times when making decisions on planning your tasks.
Fact: For a person whose time is worth $39.39 per hour, an hour wasted per day costs them $8665.80 per year!
There are numerous books and articles on time management, however, all the education in the world will not create a positive change in you.
All the education in the world on time management
will NOT create a positive change.
You must have desire to change.
Put action in your activities.
Don’t you want to know what creates permanent change? You have to want the desired outcome more than the benefits you are getting from your current behavior. You do realize that you are getting something from every action you do, even the negative ones.
Without your emotional buy-in, you will not change. Figure out what you are getting from the current behavior and ask yourself “Is it [the behavior] really worth it [the waste of time]."
Time Management Exercise:
Take a few minutes to go over our top twenty list of time wasters and list three you could eliminate or reduce.
What three time wasters could you eliminate?
1.______________________________________________
2.______________________________________________
3.______________________________________________
Marcella McMahon, Consultant and COO of Positive Results brings energy and life to workshops and keynotes. McMahon, National Speaker, designs curriculum, authors articles, teaches workshops, gives keynotes, performs vocational assessments, and coaches individuals to succeed. Highly requested topics include: Solutions through Dreams for Top Professionals, Success Thinking, Hiring Done Right, and Create Your Ultimate Life. This article is from Dennis Kyle's monthly e-newsletter titled “Sales Executive News” available at
www.PositiveResults.com/sen
