Selling Hours or Janitorial Hours?

A full year gives us time equity of 8,760 hours. The use of these hours is a personal choice under our direct control. However, one thing we cannot control is the number of available selling hours in a year. There are approximately 1,760 selling hours in one entire year. Thats all. A rather sobering statistic. Heres the math: Your customers work approximately eight hours a day and there are approximately 220 selling days per year (8 x 220 = 1,760). The 220 selling days is the number of business days minus weekends, holidays, and wasted time throughout the year, including travel time and doing personal chores during the business day. These numbers may vary depending upon industry, but for the sake of discussion I use 1,760.

During valuable selling hours you must organize yourself to maximize face-time or talk-time. Dont perform administrative obligations during selling time. Do those activities during the janitorial hours, outside the 8 AM to 5 PM selling hours. Having worked with large and small companies, Ive often witnessed salespeople who dont appreciate what time it is. I see them in the adult daycare center during the day doing their expense reports or call reports, updating customer files, and performing general administrative obligations. There are approximately 4,400 janitorial hours in a year: the time available to perform your administrative tasks. Successful sales entrepreneurs know that selling is not an 8 AM to 5 PM job. They carefully plan their days to maximize selling time, and use the after-hours time to complete administrative activities. So, next time youre thinking of getting your hair cut, getting the car washed, or doing your expense report during selling hours, refer to Tim Commandment #3, Page 71.

Principle #3: Manage Your Time

Time management is a personal process. It takes a strong commitment to change long-established habits. According to the 80/20 rule, we get 80% of our results from 20% of the things we do. This statistic supports the observation that we spend a lot of time on time-wasters and obligations. Imagine the impact on our time efficiency if we increased the 20% to 30%!

What takes us from a time-starved day of routine, frustration, and stress to a productive day filled with accomplishments? Change. One definition of time management is doing fewer things in less time. Wouldnt that be great?

Research suggests that effective time management strategies can free up a minimum of two hours per day. For example, time management studies show that we spend up to 70 minutes a day just looking for stuff. и) How many times have you said, Just a minute, I know its here somewhere. We misplace files, reports, memos, and letters, and our desks look like the movie Twister was filmed in our office. Clutter can be a huge time-waster, not to mention the embarrassment of lost or unanswered requests. Your goal isnt to have a nice neat desk, but to get organized so that you can convert wasted time into productive time. However, with a clean, orderly desk, youll improve your time working on priorities that will make you money. Your quality of work will also improve.

The underlying objective of effective time management is to utilize all available resources to increase face-time, the time spent talking face-to-face with existing customers or potential customers. If youre an inside salesperson, increase talk-time. Take some time to determine how much time you actually spend with customers. Take a stop watch and clock total face-time in one entire week. On average, its only two to four hours. i2i Shocking! This statistic serves as additional proof of the inordinate amount of time consumed by time-wasters and obligations. I recognize that with leaner companies salespeople are often saddled with more of the administrative aspects of the job. Unfortunately they become high-priced administrators. This brings us to Tim Commandment #4.

Manage your time equity. Ask: Is this activity the best use of my time right now?

Tim Commandment #4

How many Biould you ask yourself if you are making the best use of your time? If you answered several, youre right. Only you can answer that question honestly. As the president of ME

Inc., dont compromise your ROT by blindly filling your day with busyness. Restructure your day to eliminate the time-wasters and minimize the time spent fulfilling obligations. Sometimes working in the office on a project or on a presentation could very well be the best use of your time. I doubt that you can ever eliminate time spent in the adult daycare center, but you certainly need to minimize it. Use janitorial time to fulfil your obligations.

As part of your time-efficiency study, you should determine the time of day that you are most efficient and productive. Know your peak time, the time of day you are at high energy. Not everyone has the same peak time. Some of us are morning people and others are afternoon or evening people. Pay attention to your moods and high-energy time of day to determine when youre most productive. Morning people can accomplish more simply by getting up an hour earlier each day, and night owls can carve out time for administrative activities in the evenings.

Once you have identified your peak time, do your worst jobs then. They wont go away so you might as well get them done when youre feeling energized. Some authors suggest doing them first thing in the morning when youre feeling fresh. This approach works well if youre a morning person but could be disastrous if youre an afternoon person. Imagine doing your worst job at your worst time of day. Two worsts dont make a right! In my case, prime time is during the late afternoon and early evening. I prefer to schedule important meetings or presentations later in the day, anytime after 2 PM. I did most of my writing for this book between 3 PM and 9 PM.

Another suggestion in the interest of maximizing your ROT is to learn how to say no. Many of us are our own worst enemies. Youll never have enough time to finish your own tasks if youre always taking on more than time permits. Dont be afraid to politely refuse a request or task if your plate is already full. This includes saying no to your sales manager. When given a task, simply ask your manager, Would you like me to do this now or would you prefer I spend the time selling? Your manager may decide to delegate the task elsewhere. Its great to want to help others, but not at the expense of ME Inc.

Principle #4: Use the Right Tools

A professional (sales entrepreneurs included) is anyone paid to perform a task or a job at an acceptable level of proficiency while utilizing the tools of the trade to enhance efficiency and effectiveness. I am amazed at how often I see salespeople conducting business with inappropriate tools. Its as though theyre exempt from the requirement to be a professional. Imagine your doctor or dentist using anything but the best instruments. Your customers expect no less of you. As a sales entrepreneur, you have an obligation to invest in the best. You may have heard it before, A carpenter is only as good as his tools.

The solution begins with a personal planner-a time management system that offers the convenience of portability while organizing your activities, mapping your week and, most importantly, planning your day. A good planner includes twelve months at-a-glance, 365 individual day-pages, a daily to-do list section, and an appointments section. Some planners come with a rigid set of instructions, so pick a planner that offers simplicity and the flexibility to meet your personal preferences.

A planner used effectively not only buys you time, it helps you stay in balance throughout your week, including weekends. Poor time management skills result in overspending your time, running out of day before you get everything done. I compare it to managing a checking account. Imagine opening a checking account at your local bank then not using a checkbook to track the account activity. Surely you would find yourself out of balance at the end of the month, possibly overspending your available funds. Without the appropriate tool to track your time-related activities, you quickly find yourself out of balance, overdrawn on your time account.

mTaylor, Harold. Time Management Seminar. Calgary, Alberta. 1993. Author Research.