Understanding the importance of prioritization is paramount to the workplace, especially in a fast-paced sales environment, where multitasking can be detrimental. Below are four practical ways to help set priorities that can be implemented across sales teams.
1. Start the week with a plan of attack. As stated by S. Anthony Iannarino, author of The Sales Blog, each sales teams should set aside time first thing Monday morning to review sales goals. Sitting together as a team for 30 minutes allows sales reps and managers to motivate each other and support each other in achieving individual and overall metrics. Iannario goes on to suggest that each sales rep should be asking themselves three distinct questions:
1. What are the most critical outcomes I need to achieve this week?
2. Who are the most important people with who I need to spend time?
3. What am I going to do to improve myself this week
How you start your mornings ultimately sets your intentions for the day. Therefore, printing out these questions and outlining the high-level goals, and posting them where sales reps can see them, can make a significant difference. These gentle reminders and motivations can help reps feel inspired to achieve their goals and do what it takes to incorporate these tasks into their daily regimen.
2. Tackle the challenging tasks early on. Guide sales reps to take on their most daunting tasks at the start of their day. If sales reps are ever too intimidated by certain tasks, teach them the “Swiss Cheese” it approach. As outlined by Brian Tracy, best-selling author of Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time, sales reps should attack intimidating tasks like a block of Swiss Cheese and focus on progressively making holes in it. Tracy suggests that by carving out 10-20 minutes of time to focus on one part of a project, reps can save close to two hours of wasted time.
3. Sell with agility. Encourage sales reps to shift their focus away from the negatives and their weaknesses and onto how they can improve and becoming more efficient, effective and intelligent. Jill Konrath, a sales expert and best-selling author, has shared with me the significance of selling with agility. In order to achieve this, sales reps need to exercise and hone skills such as sequencing, chunking, prioritizing, connecting and reflecting to become quick learners.
Konrath has even gone on to suggest that providing sales reps with a detailed line-by-line process, showing them where their focus should be is invaluable. This goes on to further prove the significance of the ability to monotask rather than multitask. In doing so, Konrath says that sales reps can cut their time to proficiency by up to 60 percent.
4. Prepare for each interaction individually. Once salespeople have outlined a plan of attack for the day, the next step prior to contacting prospects is to prepare. The sales training firm Vorsight has developed a “3×3” approached to help effectively prepare for customer interactions, which is worth implementing. Stay ahead of the game by setting aside three minutes to learn three essential insights about the prospect, which can be weaved into the conversation.
Remaining focused will always be an uphill battle. As humans, we naturally tend to get distracted. However, following the outlined steps can help sales reps keep a clear focus and make the art of selling much more streamlined. Implementing these practices across the sales organization will help guide the team to success!
