It’s 8am and Sarah starts the day with a great game plan…two afternoon appointments in the field, the morning dedicated to items on her list and research to do for a customer she met with yesterday.  The customer needs help creating ideas for space planning. They are currently working on a new expansion.

Sarah then looks at her email and sees something in her inbox about a customer who didn’t get a delivery. She immediately calls the warehouse to find out they have been short a driver and were not able to fulfill all orders on schedule. 

Sarah sighs and feels frazzled, unorganized, and frustrated. 

What should she have done differently?

Maybe you’ve even found yourself in a similar position. 

Distractions are the silent productivity killers that can derail even the most well-intentioned professional. Believe it or not, the recovery time from an interruption is 10-20 times the interruption. 

Yes, distractions and interruptions throughout the day are inevitable. But every interruption, whether it's an email notification, social media alert, or a non-urgent task, comes with a hidden cost. Recognizing and mitigating these distractions is the first step towards reclaiming control over your day.

So, what’s the secret to staying in control of your day? We must manage our time with intention and practice ruthless prioritization. 

Here are the top 3 high-yield actions worthy of your time and attention:

1. Preparation and Planning: 

Now more than ever, sales is truly a thinking profession that requires deep work and time to be creative. Here are a few questions to consider as you spend time thinking about your accounts:

• Breathe Life into Silent Prospects: Remember you are the expert. If an account has gone silent, what additional ideas, insights and information can you share? 
• Blind Spots: What might they not be thinking of that they should be considering? 
• Trigger Events: Are there any recent trigger events occurring within or outside their organization that could impact their decision? (For Print/Promo– check out their website and see if they have upcoming events that could drive quality outbound calls.)

2. Feeding and Nurturing Your Pipeline: 

As Sales Professionals and Sales Managers, we have two inventories. Our time and our accounts. The key is knowing if we are spending the right time on the right accounts. 

Take a look at your pipeline and ask yourself: 

• Do you have scheduled appointments with all “active” prospects? 
• What evidence do you have that they are truly interested? 
• Who could still say no that you have not yet met? 

No one has time to spin their wheels or misjudge interest. By constantly feeding and nurturing your pipeline, you will be able to evaluate your time more clearly and spend the right time on the right accounts. 

3. Facetime with Prospects and Customers: 

The first two points lead into the third point; face-time (or phone time) with prospects and customers.  Without preparation and planning, you will be winging it and your customers can tell.   And once you have them and have created a regular reorder pattern, court the faithful ones. Your number one customer is someone else’s number one prospect. If you are not calling them, someone else is. With proper planning in advance, the time you do have with prospects and customers will yield higher results and outcomes. 

Start Prioritizing Your Time Today

Maintaining control of your day hinges on ruthless prioritization. While it's tempting to tackle urgent tasks first, it's essential to distinguish between what is urgent and what is truly important. Prioritizing high-impact activities over busywork ensures that you're consistently moving towards your sales goals. 

Mastering your day as a sales professional requires a combination of disciplined focus, strategic planning, and prioritization. By understanding the cost of distractions, emphasizing high-yield actions, and staying committed to effective time management, you can elevate your sales performance and achieve long-term success when up against the big box stores, Amazon or other companies in your backyard. Your time is valuable too and prioritize high yield investments!

Not sure where to start? Take our Distraction Quiz to rank where you stand. This quiz was originally from the book “More Sales, Less Time” by Jill Konrath.