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finboi profile picture

finboi

Fi-nance

Notorious Answer
Opinionated
Valued Contributor
+5

How to better prioritize time?

After doing some reflection in the last year I've come to the conclusion that my number 1 area for growth is prioritization. I find that I'm hardly ever not busy in a given day/week but sometimes the excitement of the chase and my extroverted personality can waste a ton of time. 

Here are two things I want to work on:
1. better disqualifying opportunities and disqualifying earlier in the cycle
2. forcing myself to have less, but overall higher quality, open activities/tasks for the day

what else?

To be clear, I've got close to 10 years of work experience and a few P clubs under my belt so this is all coming from a "kaizen mindset" 

Could use any tips you have!
🎯 Career Development
💼 Productivity
⏱ Time Management
15

19 comments

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BourbonKing
Valued Contributor
6
VP of Sales
Don't just create calendar blocks for things like prospecting, follow-up, and admin. Also block time for things like professional development, breaks, exercise, etc. Once you've done that, the hard part is having the discipline to adhere to those blocks. As JustGonnaSendIt already stated, it's those "important, but not urgent" tasks that always get dropped.
jefe
Arsonist
1
🍁
This with colour coding is GOLD

( @TennisandSales)
TennisandSales
Politicker
5
Head Of Sales
color code your calendar.

Every meeting should have a color.
for me high priority meetings/work that are all green.

internal meetings are blue

family stuff is red
if you have open space on a calendar assign it to something. even if its "calls" or "emails" or working on proposals. then assign it a color.

then its really easy to see what you are doing that you consider to be important and can make adjustments from there
finboi
Notorious Answer
0
Fi-nance
Alright, trying this out TODAY
SDM
Politicker
0
Sales development manager
Nice advice
antiASKHOLE
Tycoon
3
Bravado's Resident Asshole
break down your day into intervals. this will allow you to keep the most important things the most important things. 15 minute blocks.
Pachacuti
Politicker
3
They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy
I find that segmenting my time works for me. Provides a lot of flexibility while still helping me focus on specific activities at a high level.
JustGonnaSendIt
Politicker
2
Burn Towns, Get Money
Some other good comments here.

The key IMO is to have a system for assigning priority to tasks, which can be translated into allocating time.

Simply listing items in priority order is the most straightforward approach. Then you allocate time based on the priority of items.

However, it might be valuable as you gain experience and additional responsibilities to have some more complexity to prioritization. Sounds like you are at this point or past it now.

I highly recommend the book "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey, if you haven't already read it. One of the most important things that is introduced is the concept of Urgency VS Importance in time management.

Fundamentally there are four categories:

Urgent and Important - These are the things that are top of mind, need to get done now/soon, and are important to your near-term goals. Think things like further qualifying that deal, sending out the quote, updating SFDC, etc...

Allocate 80% of your time to tackling these items.

Important but not Urgent - These are arguably the most important items. These are things that set you up for long-term success. Think things like prospecting, personal and professional development.

Allocate the remaining 20% of your time to these items.

Urgent but not Important - Delegate these things to someone else.

Not Urgent and not Important - Don't do any of these things. They will resolve themselves or will be promoted to another category over time.

When I start my day, every day, I write a list of Items 1 and 2. Then I allocate time on my calendar for these things (or, if it's not a work day, then I make a rough plan in my head for the day's activities).

Within those two lists, there is an order of priority that I use to incrementally eliminate items from the list.

Is it perfect? Nope. Does it help me immensely? Yes sir it does.

You can extend this thought process down into the incremental steps of any given sales process to help you focus your time and effort on the things that will most help you succeed.
Kosta_Konfucius
Politicker
1
Sales Rep
Love it! Thanks for sharing
GreenSide
Politicker
1
Sales manager
For #1 being more transparent and direct with customers helps. If you sense hesitation, call it out. Most buyers think we don’t like to hear “No”. Go against the grain and try to get your customers to disqualify themselves.
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
1
Officer of ♥️
calculate how you spend every 30 minutes of your day by tracking it hourly then look back on the week and see how you can prioritize high value tasks instead.
DungeonsNDemos
Big Shot
1
Rolling 20's all day
Block times, color code, and have weekly recaps for yourself to make sure you cover everything.
Try to really prioritize the small things that will drive higher impact to your income and the less time sensitive stuff for less important hours, like when you're not able to call people.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
1
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
A lot of good suggestions for time management, so I'll focus on the deals themselves - don't be afraid to qualify something out of your pipeline. If it's not a fit or they're not ready, then remove it. Try not to get happy ears and push to get the customer qualified.
finboi
Notorious Answer
0
Fi-nance
SO important- thanks!
activity
Politicker
1
VP, Business Development
Batch your time. Block time off in your calendar to get specific tasks done.
ThatNewAE
Big Shot
1
Account Executive - Mid enterprise
I am struggling with this myself.
What's working for me is phone alarms, calendar blocks with clear agendas. It's never just 'CRM', it's 'Fill CRM details for xxx deals'.
Phone alarms go off from the morning and are super helpful in keeping track of what's pending.

I spend time doing all this the night before.
finboi
Notorious Answer
1
Fi-nance
Alarms!!! I’ve actually JUST started using alarms to define blocks of time for me and give a little deadline. I’ve also started using them in in person meetings (which I do a lot of) and it’s helpful to show that my time is valuable
SalesRobot
Politicker
1
Sage
I think that prioritization is a key area for growth for many salespeople, myself included. One strategy that has worked well for me is to start each day by making a list of the most important tasks that I need to accomplish. I try to focus on the tasks that will have the biggest impact on my business and prioritize those first.

Another strategy that I have found helpful is to set specific times throughout the day to check and respond to emails and messages. This can help prevent interruptions and allow me to focus on the tasks at hand.

Additionally, I think it's important to be realistic about what you can accomplish in a given day or week. We often have a tendency to overcommit and take on too much, which can lead to burnout and decreased productivity. By being more selective and focusing on the most important tasks, you can improve your overall productivity and achieve better results.

I hope these strategies are helpful.
finboi
Notorious Answer
0
Fi-nance
Oh my you hit me hard with the overcommit (both for forecast and daily activities). For real tho- you are right. Well said

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