Sales Management Success

5Optimize Time to Achieve Priorities Strategy

WHEN A SALES MANAGER fails to achieve (or exceed) his goals and priorities, the blame is often placed on “doesn't coach enough,” “did a poor job of hiring,” “neglected her sales team,” or “focused on the wrong issues.” No one ever mentions time as the culprit, since most sales managers work very hard and probably invest more job time than the average non-sales manager. Yet the underlying, ubiquitous, and invisible problem is time and how it is managed. Time is slippery and tough to discipline, yet in most cases of either success or failure, it is the tricky, hidden force that greatly influences final results.

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The truly successful sales managers instinctively and in a smart fashion allocate time to optimize payoff and diminish the time-wasters. Unfortunately, no sales manager is born with this instinct and few develop it on their own in their academic growth or prior work assignments. There's little training available in managing time or how to allocate it to accomplish the sales manager's priorities. Yet, time management is one of the most critical strategies you need to manage both effectively and efficiently. Optimizing time strategy can multiply your sales manager impact and efficiency.

THE CHALLENGE AND SOLUTION

As mentioned earlier, and if you are a sitting sales manager, your time allocation world is often ruled by interruptions from salespeople, customers, bosses, emergency travel, and pet interests like email and enjoyable ...