Strong Prioritisation skills are a statement that many people make, and very few demonstrate. It is much easier said than done, and it is interesting how the interpretation of the strategy changes to suit a person’s own spin.
In the sales profession, it is of significant importance, as there are so many components within the sales cycle that need to be crammed into a day, and not everything will get done, so what is the most important through to the least.
In its simplest form, you write down daily , usually the night before or first thing, what are the most important tasks that need to be finalised in that day. To help discipline yourself to write down an unbiased list, assume you had a clone that was going to deal with all the hard tasks, so you didn’t actually have to do those difficult tasks. By doing this, you are more likely to write down the tasks which are possibly unpleasant to carry out, however will result in the most reward.
It is very common for the difficult customer to be put off, or conflict resolution internally to be put aside, however once these are out the way, the rest becomes much easier, and by dealing with the important things firstly, when you are fresh, will allow some traction and momentum to complete the other tasks throughout the rest of the day without the thought of unpleasant, unresolved issues following you around.
Prioritising is not about completing everything on the list; it is about completing the most important things first. By Writing down 1 to 10, the most important tasks to complete in a day, and adhering to the list, you may complete only the first 6; however they are the most important tasks that give you a result at the end of the day.
Have you ever heard the statement "I will try and give you a call back or try and get back to you? " in most cases try means no intension of getting back to you, or you can expect that the likelihood is very little, If you get into the habit of being reliable with regards to getting back to people, that trait becomes a very powerful one, especially when you are being recommended to another party to do business, as it is an important part of aspect that others are happy to deal with someone reliable. How many people say I will get back to you at the end of the week? And then simply push that call aside til the following week or until it comes to a head. It is one of the easiest shortcomings people can address, however they choose not to in many cases.
Procrastination origin, can be illustrated when using this model. What most people do is write down 1 to 10 the most important things, and decide to complete 6 things for the day, but they won’t be the most important tasks. The tougher tasks will be shuffled around the list and at the end of the day number 1 to 4 have been pushed to the end of the day.
This means the most important tasks to be done were not completed or addressed, such as dealing with the irate customer you know you have to deal with, or addressing pressing issues. Number 1 to 4 gets pushed to the next day as number 1 to 4, and then again they get shuffled around and maybe only one those things get done. So by day 3, the tasks that should have been done days ago are still outstanding.
This type of routine increases the stress levels, as you know you should have done certain tasks, but you just don’t force yourself to get them out of the way. If you get into the habit of dealing with the tough issues first up, then the rest of the day doesn’t have a dark cloud following you around, mounting the stress levels internally.
We all have heard the term 'I was flat out and didn't get time', and it is common place for people at all levels to be busy doing nothing, flat out achieving little.
I have seen another version senior managers have used to prioritise which results in such comments, which I personally would not adopt. That is, you spend 40 minutes on each of the 1 to 10 items, only spending 40 Min's on each, and if not completed you move on. The argument is that you have addressed all items to a degree in the day, however the problem with this is, that it is very common for none of the 10 to be finalised, completed and signed off on. At the end of the day, zero items have been resolved or completed, and result in the following day being a replica of the day before.
I have met a number of successful directors and BDM’s who follow their prioritising list well, by writing the tasks down and ticking the items off daily on completion. They are consistent in their results and have very few issues outstanding at the end of the week. They are able to physically view their results for the week.
The sales professional needs to prioritise in such a way they make X prospect calls based on Y appoints at a Z closing rate to achieve revenue XYZ for example. The numbers need to be done as per the formulae.
This means the most important tasks to be done were not completed or addressed, such as dealing with the irate customer you know you have to deal with, or addressing pressing issues. Number 1 to 4 gets pushed to the next day as number 1 to 4, and then again they get shuffled around and maybe only one those things get done. So by day 3, the tasks that should have been done days ago are still outstanding.
This type of routine increases the stress levels, as you know you should have done certain tasks, but you just don’t force yourself to get them out of the way. If you get into the habit of dealing with the tough issues first up, then the rest of the day doesn’t have a dark cloud following you around, mounting the stress levels internally.
We all have heard the term 'I was flat out and didn't get time', and it is common place for people at all levels to be busy doing nothing, flat out achieving little.
I have seen another version senior managers have used to prioritise which results in such comments, which I personally would not adopt. That is, you spend 40 minutes on each of the 1 to 10 items, only spending 40 Min's on each, and if not completed you move on. The argument is that you have addressed all items to a degree in the day, however the problem with this is, that it is very common for none of the 10 to be finalised, completed and signed off on. At the end of the day, zero items have been resolved or completed, and result in the following day being a replica of the day before.
I have met a number of successful directors and BDM’s who follow their prioritising list well, by writing the tasks down and ticking the items off daily on completion. They are consistent in their results and have very few issues outstanding at the end of the week. They are able to physically view their results for the week.
The sales professional needs to prioritise in such a way they make X prospect calls based on Y appoints at a Z closing rate to achieve revenue XYZ for example. The numbers need to be done as per the formulae.
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