Balancing sales activities in your day can be challenging, especially when you have to juggle multiple tasks, prospects, and deadlines. How do you prioritize your time and energy to achieve your sales goals and maintain your sanity? Here are some tips to help you plan, execute, and evaluate your sales activities effectively.
Before you start your day, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish and how you will measure your progress. SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. For example, instead of saying "I want to close more deals", you could say "I want to close 10 deals worth $50,000 each by the end of the month". SMART goals help you focus on the most important and realistic outcomes and track your performance.
Specific - Be as clear, detailed, and precise as possible. Answer the questions - What exactly do I want to accomplish? Why is this goal important? Who is involved? Where will it happen?
Too often Sales people can be prone to setting goals that can not be realistically accomplished, and use the line 'Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars' as their get-out clause. Start by setting Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART) goals for your LinkedIn journey. For instance, aim to increase your profile views by 20% in the next three months or connect with 50 new prospects per week. Clearly defined goals provide direction and attained goals create momentum.
Beginning your sales process without a clear goal in mind is like trying to take a trip without an understanding of your destination. Not only should you have a clear goal, but find people you can compete with that have a similar goal. Competition and a little fun make the sales process easier.
Plan your schedule You also need to balance your schedule with other sales activities, such as preparing proposals, delivering presentations, and following up with existing customers. A good way to do this is to use a calendar or a CRM system to prioritize your tasks and manage your time effectively.
SMART goals advocate for attainable objectives, fostering realism and accountability. They discourage overly ambitious targets, reducing frustration. The reachable aspect encourages a pragmatic approach, with clear metrics for tracking progress, boosting morale and productivity.
A time management system can help you organize your tasks, schedule your appointments, and manage your deadlines. There are many tools and methods you can use, such as calendars, to-do lists, CRM software, or the Pomodoro technique. The key is to find a system that works for you and stick to it. A time management system can help you avoid procrastination, distraction, and overwhelm, and increase your productivity and efficiency.
I limit time spent on low-priority activities or time wasters. Identify when i tend to procrastinate. I also say no to non-essential tasks and requests if i am over-committed.
Adopt a time management system that works best for you, whether it's the Pomodoro Technique, time blocking, or another method. Allocate dedicated time slots for LinkedIn activities, including content creation, prospecting, and engagement. Consistency in your efforts is key.
The more successful sales professionals I have supported lived by their calendar and through keep their CRM up-to-date. The more activity you do -typically- the better your results will be. Being able to streamline your process allows for more connections and less shuffling of papers. Play around with a few and find one that works with your flow. I tried 7 (yes seven) before I landed on one. I now can’t imagine my life without it.
Time management is crucial in follow up, deal closing, post sales connect. CRM is must tool for that and moreover all sales team should be taught of traditional method of recording manually in an excel, productivity assurance is always keen to keep a backup plan. Automated tool and manual should be kept together for continuous success.
Not all prospects are created equal. Some are more qualified, interested, and ready to buy than others. You need to prioritize your prospects based on their potential value, urgency, and fit for your solution. You can use a scoring system or a matrix to rank your prospects and focus on the ones that are most likely to convert. Prioritizing your prospects can help you optimize your sales cycle, increase your conversion rate, and reduce your cost of acquisition.
Its true, not all connections are equal. Identify and categorise your prospects based on their relevance to your goals. Use Sales Navigator's advanced search filters to narrow down your ideal prospects. (eg. Buyer Intent or Following your company) Allocate more time and effort to nurturing high-potential leads and building meaningful relationships with them.
Take care to not overcomplicate your process. I’ve seen too many professional get lost is trying to be too fancy with their tracking efforts. Using a “high”, “medium”, “low” approach will likely suffice for most. Time is by far your most valuable asset and most of it should be used on your high value prospect. You need to be honest with yourself when analyzing your sales activities. Review your weeks and ask if you are truly putting your time where it needs to be.
Prioritizing prospects is a high-quality standard for salespeople. It optimizes the sales cycle, increases conversion rates, and reduces acquisition costs by focusing on those more likely to convert. A scoring system or matrix can help rank prospects based on value, urgency, and fit.
The Hot, Cold and Warm session. Its a childhood game where we keep objects hidden and those come close near to object we indicate with this terms. Sales also prioritizing in different perspective is essential but challenge is to bring the cold prospect to hot one.
One of the most important sales activities is following up with your prospects. Following up can help you build rapport, address objections, and move them along the sales funnel. However, following up can also be time-consuming and tedious. You need to follow up consistently, but not too frequently or aggressively. You can use automation tools, such as email templates, sequences, and reminders, to streamline your follow-up process and save time. You can also use different channels, such as phone, email, social media, or text, to reach your prospects and increase your response rate.
After connecting with prospects, don't let the conversation fizzle out. Develop a follow-up strategy that includes personalised messages and relevant content sharing. Set reminders to check in periodically to keep the relationship alive. Consistent and relevant engagement helps build credibility, trust and rapport.
Follow up should be at right time as per conversation channels if you are emailing let it be in 2 or 3 days gap. If you are in social media same gap but as per customer nature which we can identify after few connections only. If you are having competition make sure your reach first and keep consistent touch.
Look back at the last few deals you closed. What was the cadence of those contacts? Did you reach out weekly? Maybe every two weeks? Review your success stories and use that as your baseline for contacts. You can always tweak things as you go, but having a consistent approach will help you judge your success. If you overdo it with your contacts, you may very well turn a “maybe” into a “no”.
eagerness and commitment to securing business deals. It not only helps in building rapport but also addresses concerns, nudging prospects along the sales funnel. While it can be time-consuming, automation tools and diversified channels like phone, email, or social media, can streamline the process, saving time while also enhancing engagement and response rates. This disciplined approach reflects positively on a salesperson's professionalism and determination in achieving sales goals.
Balancing sales activities is about strategic prioritization. Start with high-impact tasks like prospecting in the morning when energy is high. Afternoons are ideal for client meetings and presentations. Reserve time for follow-ups, emails, and administrative tasks later. Regularly assess and adjust this schedule based on evolving priorities and deadlines, ensuring a dynamic yet organized approach to maximize productivity and achieve sales goals.
At the end of the day, you need to evaluate your results and see how well you performed against your goals. You can use metrics, such as calls made, emails sent, appointments booked, proposals sent, deals closed, revenue generated, or customer satisfaction, to measure your success. Evaluating your results can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, celebrate your wins, and learn from your losses. You can also use feedback, such as surveys, testimonials, or referrals, to improve your sales skills and strategies.
Results evaluation comes from tools which we use for sales. Manual records are also important as clients should be in pipeline and recording manually makes you remember the task yet to be carried out. Reminders in CRM and personal phone also equips to reach on right time.
If you're not evaluating then your shooting in the dark! Regularly assess your LinkedIn efforts by tracking key performance metrics. Use LinkedIn analytics and other tools to measure the success of your content, connection requests, and messaging. Adjust your strategies based on what's working and what's not.
As you proceed through your week, block things on your calendar. Turn blocks of time dealing with selling Green and everything else Red. At the end of the week- if you don’t see more Green than Red- you should analyze your prioritization of time. With many sales cycles taking time, your lack of efforts t this week will have a direct impact on results in the future.