Effective Time Management to Improve your Sales Closing Technique

Your time is crucial to your Sales success, but do we really manage time – No. All we can manage is our activities in that time frame. You must use the time you have effectively, you could answer the phone and handle customer queries,

but is this effective use of time for a sales person? We need to focus on improving sales closing methods.



Time management programs have proved time and again that most sales people spend too much time on things that will not directly lead to closing sales. If the wasted activity can be channeled into useful profit gaining time sales

WILL rise!



What activities do we do in acquiring more sales, driving, sales reports, administration, inside meetings, emergencies, all of which could take between 50-75% of our time. We need to focus on time in front of current accounts that

will yield more business or new accounts, in most cases this could be less than 15% of our time – what a waste! – Think about it. You may consider training courses to improve your sales closing methods.



Planning is the key component of the whole exercise, spend 10-15% on this part working out how to get 33% of your time in front of customers and improving your closing techniques, the rest will take care of itself. Keep to the plan

at all



Do not forget self education, read industry journals attend seminars at regular intervals make sure you keep up with your industry trends. This is where your personality will gain dividends - by increasing your knowledge on sales closing tips, questions and strategies.



The early bird catches the worm, well not all people are early risers and may perform better in the afternoon, without taking a lazy approach understand where you are at your sharpest for presentations and use the time you are not so sharp for completing other items – this does not mean laying in every day.



Some sales people do not like driving 30 miles in the morning, well go to your destination the night before stay in a hotel work for while on your presentation, focus on your sales closing lines. You will be surprised how much you can get done staying away from home in your hotel room or in a quiet bar, which can be used to create some free time with the family

later in the week.



Use your free time wisely, most sales people have a lot of flexibility and if you increase sales in your area, the boss is not going to worry if you spend some time in the week with your family – sports day etc. Now if your sales are poor or declining, get them up again before going to a sports day!



We all have ‘To Do’ lists, unfortunately some things just keep getting put back so they are never done. Discipline is key here, make sure your list is done, perhaps have a long term and short term list but have them time defined that suits your success gradient. Keeping the list short, well defined and achievable will aid success – make a point of clearing your ‘To Do’ list once a month if possible and focus on what is important.



The key to a good salesman is applying the time to accounts that will give the greatest return. We have all heard of the 80/20 rule, well what if we were to say that 20% of your time is spent getting 80% of the business, this is a good use of your time, if this is one large account, it could be very risky



if you lose this account. I would suggest that you spend the other 80% of your time getting an additional 20% of revenue and focus on his proportion every month with time in front of customers achieving more than 33%. But to do this you will need to continually brush up on your closing techniques and methods on how you approach the customer.



Plus don't forget whether in capital sales or consumer sales make sure you spend time on your closing techniques, do not waste your time on mundane non productive issues - Focus Focus Focus.