3 Simple Things You Can Do to Stay Organized in Your Sales Role
I think we would all agree that in any occupation, organization is a good thing – no one would ever say they need less of it. Sure, there’s a healthy balance of adding personal touches and flying by the seat of your pants, but in general, we could all stand to be more organized in our work (me included).
I’m in sales. That means there are a lot of moving parts involved in the process from lead generation to happy customer, and there are a lot of important skills that go into making a successful sales cycle such as good people skills, endurance & tough skin, persistence, and many other things. However, there is an “admin” side to sales that I feel is often overlooked and can prohibit salespeople from achieving their fullest potentials if not tapped into.
Is it really that important? I think so. For me personally, if I have to go a bit slower to make sure I’m operating in a structured manner and being efficient in everything I’m doing, it’s worth it. Honestly, most of this work is “upfront” work that just enables you to go faster than you could before anyway. Plus, once I get used to a particular system I’ve adopted, I can speed it up as I get comfortable with it.
So, now that I’ve hopefully convinced you that being just a bit more organized will help you perform at a higher level at work (and in life), here is a full disclosure: I’m kind of a numbers nerd and I may be slightly obsessed with graphs, spreadsheets, and creating little systems and procedures within my sales role. Therefore, try to take everything I say with that in mind as I am most definitely one of those people (my fullest apologies). Adopt the things you find helpful, and leave the rest 🙂
And of course, know that a lot of what I’m about to tell you has come from many books I’ve read on the subject like How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger among others.
Tip 1: Track Your Numbers & Study Them
If you work in sales, I’m guessing you have access to a CRM software of some kind. Use it to create dashboards that reflect numbers of importance to your performance. In my case, that would be the number of meetings I schedule, a visualization of what my market pipeline looks like, etc. Pull anything that you can get from your CRM that might be helpful for you to see and keep you on track.
Do not ignore your numbers. If you do, you can’t expect to improve. I spend at least half an hour looking at my numbers and metrics every day because this determines what I’m going to do that day in terms of activity, and what results need to occur to hit my goals. If your CRM doesn’t provide all the information you need to track these numbers, make a Google Sheets or Excel spreadsheet. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but it should tell you clearly where you stand, and it should be updated twice per day (at the beginning and end of the day). Neglecting to update your spreadsheet will defeat the purpose of having it.
In addition to spreadsheets and CRM dashboards, I’ve used Google Maps to plot my meetings and keep track of them, I’ve color-coded my calendar to make it easier for me to keep track of what’s going on, I’ve organized my inbox (never delete your emails! You never know when you’ll need it – all my emails get archived after being taken care of), and I keep a few paper tallies of numbers I hit on my desk.
Basically, anything you can keep track of and/or automate – do it, update it regularly, and study it often.
Tip 2: Plan Your Work & Work Your Plan
All that talk in the last point about data and such might seem like a lot of work, but it’s actually designed to make your job easier. It’s also the reasoning behind this next tip.
Depending on when you’re the least busy, find at least 90 minutes every day or so to calculate and study your numbers, and plan for the next work cycle. For some, the morning works best to plan for the rest of the day, and for others, the end of the day works best to plan for the next day.
Determine which tasks you want to accomplish that day or the next, list them in order of importance, then tackle them in order (Eat That Frog). Planning out your work makes your work more efficient and easier to get done.
Obviously, there are times when you’ll have to deviate from the plan you’ve created (we don’t live in a world where everything goes according to plan), but for the most part, try to stick to your structure as much as possible.
Tip 3: Have a “No Loose Ends Allowed” Attitude
This is the hardest thing to write about because it’s more of a mindset than a hard “how to.” I kind of think of it as a game – always striving to stay on top of everything and keep it “clean.” For example, if an email comes in, I either answer it, archive it accordingly, or delete it (only if most definitely spam). Oftentimes, there are 0 emails in my inbox, and that’s my goal every day.
It’s a balance of staying focused, but also taking care of things as they pop up. I figure if I stay on top of every little thing, then I’ll never have a huge pile of things to catch up on. At the end of every day, everything is settled for the day – there are no loose ends. Try to get ahead while keeping everything running at top-notch efficiency. If anything threatens to disrupt that, take care of it while it’s small.
Another way I see it is like a “whack-a-mole” game. Always be prepared to smack those moles down right when they pop up.
I realize this may sound obsessive, and it might be, but it’s how I make sure I don’t fall behind, and it enables me to stay focused on hitting my numbers and accomplishing my goals.
There is, without a doubt, much more that could be said on the subject of organization, but these are the things I’m currently doing to stay organized and focused in my role.
With all this said, I’m not perfect. I could stand to organize lots of other areas of my life better, and I’m sure there are things I’m not doing at work that would help me be even more efficient.
And that’s another point – the previous tips are how I personally tackle my job – It’s important to find out what works best for you, keeps you on track, and helps you go faster. Reading articles like this one will help you find tips that suite your workstyle the best.
Until next time,
Hope Frances
Photo by Lukas Blazek on Unsplash
