What do you do if your regular sales responsibilities are competing with innovative projects?

In my experience, prioritization and delegation are crucial for success. It’s important to identify urgent tasks, focus on what you do best, and delegate the rest.

When regular sales tasks conflict with innovative projects, prioritize and integrate efficiently. Looking into each task and project to align them perfdectly with your goals is a crucial first step. Use time management strategies like blocking time for innovation without sacrificing daily sales duties. Leverage technology to automate routine tasks, freeing up time for creative endeavors. Encourage cross-department collaboration to share the load and inject fresh ideas into both areas. Balancing these responsibilities promotes growth while maintaining core business functions. Let me know if this helps you out!

Determine what will make you more sales. Doing the same thing and expecting different results is Trouble. Do not get left behind and continue to be open for learning sometime different and a little scary. Those tend to be the ones that work out best

Create and spend time in your life to work on important and non-urgent things that align with your goals over non-important, non-urgent (e.g. gaming). This has all been covered well by the likes of @Stephen Covey (First Things First), @Napoleon Hill and others. B

Following on from prioritizing tasks, sometimes you will need to be making the decision as to whether or not you need to "create" extra time, also known as evenings and weekends, to accommodate working on innovative projects. Here it is very important to recognize the difference between being taken advantage of, vs building out your own expertise and increasing your overall value to yourself and the organization. As the saying goes, in the end, the only ones who will remember the late nights you worked is your family - trade that time very carefully!

Keep track of where you're spending your time! This helps to highlight achievements that aren't directly tied to sales metrics and prove your added value to the organization. Our team created a "Special Projects Tracker" that allows SEs to quickly record the time we've put into innovative projects and learning efforts. This can then be shared during regular 1:1s or performance reviews to help provide a holistic view of one's achievements.

Be a better person, starting with accepting yourself, making improvements, helping others. G. 2024 I need more spaces or letters or characteristics to post this? Stupid.

Know the power of saying no and the fault in saying yes to everything. Of course, there are some things you can't completely say no to, but hopefully, you are on a team that trusts you to know where dedicating your time is most valuable. Having candid conversations with your colleagues and managers to build out processes and expectations can go a long way in helping ensure that the highest value tasks are being prioritized.

In addition to the topics covered in this article, I'd suggest that you prioritize aligning with your company's goals and objectives. If you find your routine sales duties conflicting with innovative projects, it could indicate a need to shift focus. Stay receptive to assessing and reflecting on your personal priorities. There may come a time when moving on is the best option.