Sales Reinvented

Productivity measurement begins with a plan. Productivity is what you achieve from what you’ve planned. You need to be able to get done what you set out to do. So how do you begin to plan? What steps should a sales professional take? Luigi Prestinenzi joins Paul to share how he continues to increase his productivity. 

Luigi is the Co-Founder & Head of Growth at Sales IQ Group and hosts the SalesIQ Podcast, based in Melbourne, Australia. He is a coach and consultant who aims to help businesses unlock the full potential of their sales team. To hear his take on productivity and what you can do to improve your sales, listen to the whole episode!

Outline of This Episode

• [0:20] Paul introduces Luigi Prestinenzi.
• [1:15] What is productivity? 
• [1:50] Why is productivity important in sales?
• [3:30] Why aren’t salespeople productive? 
• [5:15] Steps to take to improve productivity
• [8:00] Attributes a salesperson should have
• [10:40] Productivity tools and tactics
• [12:15] Top 3 do’s and top 3 don’ts
• [13:50] Luigi’s favorite productivity story

Salespeople are paid to deliver an outcome

It’s simple. If a sales professional isn’t doing their job and closing sales, the business suffers. A salesperson is only as good as the last month of the billing period. There is a lot of turnover in sales because they hold the most visible position that is held accountable when they’re not productive. 

If they aren’t reaching goals or making quotas, then what are they doing? 

There are only so many hours in the day and Luigi points out that you must protect the limited time you have. A salesperson must learn how to focus on the tasks that reach the desired outcome. What are the metrics you need to achieve? What do you need to start tracking? You can’t achieve what you don’t measure. 

What can productivity measurement teach you?

The world lives in an age of distraction. Every smart-phone notification distracts you from the tasks you need to be focusing on. Social media can be a great asset or your greatest hindrance. Don’t get lost in a sea of communication that won’t deliver the outcome you’re looking for. 

Luigi states that 50-60% of sales teams are unable to reach sales targets. 

So how do you change that? Start tracking your performance. What are you doing when you’re being productive and actively closing sales? What were you doing then that you aren’t doing now? Know the tasks you need to do, schedule them in your calendar, and complete them. It requires discipline. 

To be a high-performing salesperson you must be proactive

A successful salesperson holds themselves accountable to the goals they’ve set. Many people don’t hold themselves accountable, and instead, they try and justify their actions with excuses. Luigi points out that finding success is hard, and if you don’t protect your time as your greatest asset, you won’t be productive.

Working harder, longer is not the answer. So what is?

Luigi states you need to get some productivity tools in place. Start using Calendly to schedule meetings and eliminate the back-and-forth of calendar volley-ball. You get to choose where people can schedule meetings. Use Seamless.ai to build lists for prospecting. 

Do you want to hear the rest of Luigi’s productivity hacks? Listen to the whole episode!

Prospecting is a key component in achieving success in sales 

Luigi is a strong advocate for prospecting and believes it’s fundamental to a sales professionals’ success. If prospecting is your weakness, you must spend time improving your abilities. Luigi points out a few key things that can help:

• Know your persona
• Know how many touch points you need over a period of time
• Develop communication templates
• Create a process that you can automate as much as possible

To be productive you must stop starting over and doing everything from scratch, every time. Templates allow you to be more efficient!

Luigi shares some powerful strategies in this episode. Don’t miss it!

Resources & People Mentioned

• Tony Hughes Blog
• Seamless.ai
• SalesLoft
• AutoClose

Connect with Luigi

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Connect With Paul Watts 

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

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Emotional literacy—sometimes also referred to as self-awareness—is the ability to appropriately understand and express your feelings. It is key to becoming a productive sales professional. Why? Understanding your emotions and what keeps you from being a successful salesperson gives you the steps to move in a positive direction.

Here to talk with Paul about emotional literacy and sales call reluctance is Connie Kadansky. She is the president of Exceptional Sales Performance and a notable coach in the industry, specializing in sales call reluctance. If you’re ready to overcome what’s holding you back and become a productive and effective professional—don’t miss this one!

Outline of This Episode

• [0:20] Paul introduces Connie Kadansky.
• [1:20] What is productivity?
• [1:40] Why is being productive important?
• [2:00] Why aren’t sales professionals productive?
• [3:10] Steps to improve productivity
• [5:40] Attributes of a salesperson
• [7:30] Productivity tools and strategies
• [9:30] Top 3 do’s and top 3 don’ts
• [13:55] Favorite productivity story

Sales call reluctance and its impact on productivity

Connie’s definition of productivity is “aligning and integrating all activities with the salesperson’s goals and the goals of the company”. If a sales professional is struggling with productivity and unable to reach their goals—they’re not aligned with the goals of the company. So, why aren’t they productive?

Connie points out that it is often tied to sales call reluctance. Sales call reluctance is an emotional hesitation to prospect. She recommends facing the reluctance head-on. There is always a purpose to the emotion, but you must learn how to identify and navigate those emotions to become productive. 

Keep listening as Connie and Paul discuss steps to improve productivity and attributes of a productive sales professional. 

Emotional literacy and other tools for success

Emotional literacy and sales reluctance go hand-in-hand. You must face the emotions that are holding you back from prospecting—not ignore them. When you accept the emotion for what it is, then you can decide to move into a more productive emotion. 

Connie points out that it becomes much easier when you acknowledge that the sale isn’t about you.

You are offering a potential client a product or system that will offer them value! She also notes that finding an accountability buddy can be instrumental in reaching your goals. In fact, your chances of achieving a goal go up to 72% if you have someone to keep you accountable.

Connie’s top tips to become more productive

Connie’s top 5 tips to become a more productive sales professional include:

1. Take on call reluctance head-on!
2. Use scorecards: Score yourself on activities, because whatever you measure, improves. 
3. Learn how to center yourself; don’t waste time transitioning from activity to activity.
4. Don’t go to lunch with colleagues—go with prospects! Or anyone you can learn from. 
5. Learn how to say an “enlightened no”. Say no to things you know will distract you and sidetrack your day. 

To hear more details about Connie’s tips make sure you listen to the full episode!

How to assess your priorities

A great quote from Jim Collin’s reads “If you have more than 3 priorities, then you don’t have any priorities”. Connie took this quote to heart, and wrote out a lost of her top priorities—and came up with twenty-seven. Knowing she needed to narrow this list down, she asked herself three questions: 

What is the most important task? What is most urgent? What priorities have deadlines? 

Once you have narrowed down your tasks to three works in progress, an effective way to knock them out is by chunking out the work. Break the tasks down into manageable steps and be disciplined enough to carry them out. Planning and prioritizing can make all the difference.

To hear more of Connie’s advice, tips, and strategies, listen to the whole episode of Sales Reinvented!

Resources & People Mentioned

• The Unopened Book by Dan Newby and Lucy Nunez
• Good to Great by Jim Collins
• Sales Call Reluctance by Connie Kadansky

Connect with Connie Kadansky

• Connie’s Website
• 602-997-1101
• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Connect With Paul Watts 

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

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If you’re a sales professional and know you need to place importance on prioritizing tasks and becoming productive, this is the place to start! Are you ready to gain focus on what’s important and start closing more sales? Paul’s guest, Liz Heiman, lays out where to place your priorities, and how to become a productive salesperson. 

Liz is the Chief Strategy Officer and Sales Leadership Coach at Alice Heiman, LLC. She is passionate about helping businesses maximize their full potential by increasing profitability. She enjoys strategizing plans for growth and success. Liz lends her expertise in this eye-opening episode of the Sales Reinvented Podcast!

Outline of This Episode

• [0:20] Paul introduces Liz Heiman
• [1:00] What is productivity?
• [1:35] Why is productivity important?
• [2:20] Why aren’t salespeople productive?
• [5:30] Steps to improve productivity?
• [7:20] Attributes of a productive salesperson
• [8:20] Tools, strategies, and tactics
• [10:00] Top 3 productivity do’s and top 3 don’ts
• [11:45] Liz’s favorite productivity Story

Clear leadership and expectations are key to productivity

According to Liz, productivity is the act of prioritizing tasks and being efficient at carrying them out. Sales professionals can get distracted and lose focus without clear priorities and plans in place. It can also be difficult to be productive when leadership pulls you in different directions. If you’re in sales management, you need to allow your sales team to do what they do best: close sales. 

Management needs to focus on running interference and allowing salespeople to stay on-task.

In larger companies, this could be mitigated with the established of a sales enablement team. If you don’t have the means to create this team you must be thoughtful about expectations. Perhaps you can implement systems to limit unnecessary workload. Above all, don’t change the strategy for your sales team and leave them reeling and frustrated. Enable them to do their jobs to the best of their ability. 

Prioritizing Tasks: start with your funnel

It is almost instinct for any professional to get to work and immediately check their email. It becomes the thing that controls us and steals our time. Liz points out that this is NOT the first task you should be engaging in. It is important to be responsive to customers. However, if you prioritize email, you never get to the things that are important and only deal with the things that are urgent. 

Liz recommends diving into your CRM. Be sure you are entering data and keeping it up to date—even if you hate it. Look at your reports, get yourself organized, then dive into your funnel. Start by closing the sales at the end of the funnel, then work your way backward and follow up on leads. Don’t let them get cold. Leverage the power of the funnel to prioritize your day. 

A productive salesperson needs to start with a vision

Liz points out that an important attribute of a sales professional is the ability to see the end of the road before they take their first step. An efficient person cannot just react, respond, and wing it. They need to ask themselves where their energy should be spent. What roadblocks may come up? Can they close on this sale? They must plan around the things that get them results. If they can’t envision the end result—closing the sale—how can they work backwards and plan each step?

Recognize the power of planning

Liz completely understands the power of planning. She feels lost and disorganized without it. Years ago, she was taught how to properly map out her time. She blocked time in her schedule for prospecting, calls to make, projects to complete, etc. This gave her the framework she needed to make deadlines and move sales forward.

If she didn’t utilize this strategy, she found herself floundering. She’d look at her week and question what, if anything, she got done. She recommends planning out your time so that you don’t lose track of the priorities or miss deadlines. A lack of planning creates more stress. And if you want time to play, you have to get your work done!

For a full picture of Liz’s strategies and tactics, listen to the whole episode of Sales Reinvented!

Resources & People Mentioned

• Alice Heiman LLC

Connect with Liz Heiman

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Connect With Paul Watts 

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

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Mastering productivity management is a stellar way for salespeople to become more effective in their jobs. Learning strategies to manage and foster your productivity can take you to a new level of success. Paul’s guest today, Lisa Magnuson, shares what she believes is the key to being productive and successfully—and repeatedly—landing clients.

After years of experience in the sales industry, Lisa founded Top Line Sales in 2005. She is the author of multiple best-selling books on sales and one of the most effective coaches in the industry. Her business prides itself on helping you land seven-figure deals and cultivating a sales process that is productive, efficient, and effective. 

Outline of This Episode

• [1:10] Lisa Magnuson’s definition of productivity
• [2:35] Why aren’t salespeople productive?
• [5:40] Attributes or characteristics of a great salesperson
• [7:45] Productivity tools and tactics
• [10:30] Top 3 do’s and top 3 don’ts
• [12:35] Favorite productivity story

Productivity management begins with effectiveness

A salesperson can often be efficient—they send emails and make phone calls in a timely manner. But the work means nothing if you are not effective. If your effort doesn’t result in securing meetings (or the eventual sale) then you are not being productive. So how does a sales professional forge ahead and foster productivity? How do they begin to land sales? Keep listening for Lisa’s take on the question. 

The importance of pre-call planning

Lisa recommends a process she calls ‘pre-call planning’ to help boost your effectiveness. In fact, she believes if you aren’t doing pre-call planning, you are incapable of being effective. So what does pre-call planning look like? It begins with setting aside some time to systematically think about where you are in the sales process.

What do you want to accomplish?

What are the next steps? 

What could go wrong?

What will make the conversation a great experience for your client? Many salespeople don’t take the time to engage in this process because it is time-consuming. They believe with their expertise and personality that they can wing it and come away with a win. Lisa states that you will be 20% more effective if you implement pre-call planning.

You must act with a sense of urgency

Lisa operates with a few key philosophies that she’s found to be effective. One of those is how she manages her calendar. She does not let her schedule run her and never schedules back-to-back meetings or phone calls. After each meeting, she invests her time in follow-up actions that were discussed. 

If you set aside that time while you are in the right frame of mind, you will knock out much more than if you have to go back hours or even days later to finish up tasks. The sense of urgency allows you to complete tasks as effectively as possible and important things won’t get missed. 

To hear her other philosophies on time-management and systems to have in place, listen to the whole episode!

SWOT Analysis and Relationship Mapping

Lisa’s favorite productivity story relates to a client she worked with last year in the shipbuilding and repair industry. She helped the client do a SWOT analysis (a strategic planning technique to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats). They also did relationship mapping, while implementing other methodologies—it helped her client landed a $40 million contract. 

The contract they landed wasn’t even originally interested in working with them! But because of the effort they put forth, the research, and the pre-call planning, they went front a long-shot to a sure thing. Within the first 90 days of working with that client, they referred someone else to work with them! It’s just one of Lisa’s proven strategies for landing sales.

Listen to the whole episode for more productivity management strategies and tips!

Resources & People Mentioned

• Top Line Sales
• Book: The TOP Sales Leader Playbook
• Book: The TOP Seller Advantage
• FREE Pre-Call Planning Guide
• Book: More Sales, Less Time
• SWOT Analysis

Connect with Lisa Magnuson

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Connect With Paul Watts 

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

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Everyone can benefit from adopting more productive habits into their day, most especially salespeople. Meeting quotas involves staying on task and focused. They cannot afford the liability of distraction. To learn some key ways to develop productive habits, listen to this episode of Sales Reinvented with special guest Chris Croft!

Chris Croft hails from the United Kingdom and offers in-person training in project and time management. If you’re not native to the UK, he offers courses on Lynda.com and has a popular YouTube channel. He’s been a management coach for over 16 years, is an author, and an all-around expert in the field of time management—a core competency of productivity!

Outline of This Episode

• [0:20] Paul introduces Chris Croft
• [1:05] What is productivity?
• [2:30] Why aren’t salespeople productive?
• [5:10] How to improve day-to-day productivity
• [9:35] 7 tips to overcome procrastination
• [13:05] Productivity tools to embrace
• [17:00] Top 3 Do’s and Top 3 Don’ts
• [19:50] His favorite productivity story

Time management is a core habit sales professionals must develop

Salespeople are constantly barraged with choices. What activities that they engage in can vary greatly day-to-day. It’s important to focus on the important things and do those well. But many sales professionals are flexible opportunists that are easily distracted—it’s the nature of the job. So having a grasp of time management is essential to being productive.

Chris illustrates his point with a color-based time management model:

• Red = Key time that you are doing productive things essential to your job.
• Black = Administrative tasks that you want to minimize.
• Blue = Things that are forgotten which may include planning, creating, thinking. Anything that is future-based. 

The goal to being productive is finding a balance—a blend—of the three colors. All are things that do fall on your to-do list, but each with differing importance. 

Productive habits begin with decluttering the mind

Chris advocates for completely emptying your mind so you can focus on the present moment. No one wants to be thinking about a project they need to work on while in a meeting with a client. So what do you do? Get a diary, journal, planner, etc. and write everything down. Write down every appt., every promise made, every follow-up call, and any tasks you need to remember. 

In that same planner, Chris recommends creating an appointment with yourself every day. A half-hour time-slot for you to plan. His second tip is to never allow your calendar to get full. Save yourself an hour each day for small tasks (such as emails) that crop up throughout the day. Lastly, note whenever you need to complete a follow-up action such as calling a prospect back. 

Chris talks about creating a master list and a daily to-do list and why it’s important they must be different. Keep listening!

7 ways to beat procrastination

Chris believes a characteristic of a great salesperson is discipline, and disciplined people know how to overcome procrastination. He details 7 things you can begin to implement to procrastinate less:

1. Write a task in your planner so your mind isn’t cluttered with trying to recall what you were supposed to do.
2. Leave whatever it is that you need to complete visible on your desk, so it’s not “out of sight, out of mind”. 
3. Break a large task into smaller chunks so it’s easier to complete. 
4. Have a fixed work routine. Perhaps you call 5 people immediately every day.
5. Start the day with whatever is hanging over your head. Make the rest of the day easy.
6. Reward yourself when you knock out a difficult task! Chocolate, anyone?
7. Make sure you’re getting enough sleep! A lack of energy will impact your productivity.

Chris outlines some other productivity tools he recommends, habits to develop, and his top 3 do’s and top 3 don’ts. Don’t miss his insight into productivity. 

Blurring the lines between work and home is allowed

Chris was on holiday in the Lakes District (in England) with his wife. They were walking their dog, and he got a work phone call. He answered it and happily scheduled some training courses. He wrote it in his planner, pocketed it, and continued with his vacation. 

Many might criticize him for taking a work call while on vacation. 

But to Chris, it was a complete win. He took a few minutes and scheduled something that he loves doing. Blurring the edges between home and work is okay! If you have to completely separate yourself from the work you do, maybe you’re in the wrong job.

Because if you love what you do, it doesn’t feel like work. 

Resources & People Mentioned

• Jobs To Do App on Google Play
• Trello
• Training on Lynda.com

Connect with Chris Croft

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Website
• YouTube

Connect With Paul Watts 

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

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Following the right productivity tips can make or break your sales performance. When your entire job revolves around generating revenue, it’s important to be as productive as you can be. So what steps do you need to take? If you’re looking for some great tips to propel you in the right direction, this episode of Sales Reinvented is the one for you!

Noelle Leemburg joins Paul in this episode to deliver some of her top tips from years of experience. She is a coach, co-author of a book, and an experienced saleswoman. Her enthusiasm, energy, and authentic desire to help others reach their goals shines in this episode. Don’t miss it!

Outline of This Episode

• [1:20] Paul introduces Noelle Leemburg
• [2:00] Why aren’t salespeople productive?
• [3:00] How to become more productive
• [3:45] Improving day-to-day productivity
• [5:30] Attributes of a great sales professional
• [6:10] Tools to have in your arsenal
• [7:40] Top 3 Do’s and top 3 don’ts
• [11:00] Noelle’s favorite productivity story

What keeps sales professionals from being productive?

Noelle believes productivity begins with doing impactful tasks effectively and efficiently. The key word is impactful—whatever task you’re doing needs to clearly be working towards generating revenue. So what keeps a salesperson from those tasks?

The #1 answer tends to be there are too many things on their plate.

If you’re getting tasks sent your way or requests are made of you that fall outside of your role, they need to be set aside. Don’t let “shiny penny syndrome” distract you from what generates revenue. 

Improving day-to-day productivity by prioritizing your time

So how does a sales professional become more productive? Noelle advocates being protective of your time. She refers to this as “Tiger Time”. You must fiercely protect your schedule. So start tracking where you’re spending your time. Then narrow down what activities you’re doing that are wasting your time.

Intentionality is a large part of what makes someone successful. If you know what your quarterly goals are, you can then plan monthly, weekly, and daily tasks to reach those goals. You can take those goals and plan them into your calendar so your precious time is not being wasted. 

To hear the attributes Noelle believes a sales professional must cultivate—keep listening!

Focus on impactful activities first

A goal-oriented and focused salesperson will focus on their most impactful tasks and knock them out first. Noelle helps further define impactful activities by noting it’s the things that make money. This can include—but is not limited to—prospecting, conversations with clients, face-to-face proposals, and phone calls. 

Noelle states that one way you can get a leg-up on your day is by coming in 10 minutes early. Investing an extra 10 minutes is an extra 40 hours a year spent in impactful activities. Think of what could be achieved in that extra time! Not everyone is a morning person, so connect with prospects when you’re at your best (even if it’s in the afternoon).

Noelle’s top productivity tips

Take Noelle’s top tips and make them your own. You’ll begin to take steps towards becoming a more productive sales professional:

1. Plan your work and work your plan. Be organized, build routines, and do the work.
2. Use your energy wisely. Get in front of your prospects when you’re at your best. 
3. Win the morning! Get up early and get a headstart on your day.
4. Eliminate distractions. Checking Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are NOT hourly tasks. Stop making them important!
5. Stop multitasking. It’s hurting you, not helping. Get into a zone and stick to the task at hand. It’s proven to equate to higher productivity. 
6. Learn to say no to anything that isn’t a high-value task or activity. 

Noelle wants sales professionals to focus on What’s Important Now (WIN). If you begin to do that and follow her productivity tips, you will start to win. Don’t miss listening to this whole episode for some great stories and productivity strategies. 

Resources & People Mentioned

• The Authentic Salesperson course
• Parkinson’s Law
• Book: The No B.S. Truth

Connect with Noelle Leemburg

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Connect With Paul Watts 

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

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Are you ready to improve your sales performance? There are so many factors in play that affect reaching your quota, but something you can easily start to remedy is your productivity. What can you do to drive your progress? How do you improve your productivity? Meridith Elliott Powell answers these questions and more in this episode of Sales Reinvented. 

Meridith is a business growth expert, motivational speaker, and successful author. She understands the constantly changing economy and knows how to help you grow your business. One way to accelerate growth is by making sure your salesforce is as productive as possible. Be sure to listen to this episode to hear her advice!

Outline of This Episode

• [1:05] Meridith Elliott Powell on productivity
• [2:10] Why aren’t they productive?
• [2:55] How to improve day-to-day productivity
• [4:30] Attributes of a productive person
• [6:05] Tools and resources she recommends 
• [8:00] Top 3 Do’s and top 3 don’ts
• [9:45] Meridith’s favorite productivity story

Don’t romanticize past success

Everyone has their own philosophy on the sales process and what works for them. More often than not, those strategies are based on what worked in the past. Meridith states that you must stop living in the past. What worked then won’t always be the best strategy for the here and now. 

The marketplace, customer, and competition are constantly changing. 

So you must grow and adapt with those changes. Behaviors drive results. So you must decide which ones move you forward. If romanticizing past success is holding you back from reaching your goals, it's time to move on. 

Reflection is the best preparation

Meridith believes improving day-to-day productivity begins with reflecting over your week. Every Friday, she takes time to look at the last four days. She recommends looking at your emails, phone calls you made, proposals you wrote, and even networking events you attended.

What moved the ball forward? What didn’t?

You are your efficiency expert. You must be the one to look at your week and make adjustments moving forward. Meridith knows she is more productive when she takes 15-20 minutes to keep herself accountable to move towards her goals. That means eliminating activities that don’t. 

The marketing team isn’t working against you

Sometimes it’s hard for sales professionals to recognize or admit that the sales process truly begins before salespeople ever connect with a potential customer. Customers Google, they do research, and likely know about your business or product because of your marketing team doing their jobs right.

Let marketing do the heavy lifting and provide the data you need. That allows a sales professional to do what they do best—build relationships. Salespeople are the ones who bring emotional intelligence to the process. Remember that the marketing process doesn’t steal your leads, but softens them for the sale. 

Don’t fight tools that will help you

Meridith loves every part of the sales process. She is very outgoing and loves the thrill of the hunt. Because she was very good at what she did, she fought every tool or resource ever introduced to her. She was meeting her goals, so why did she need them?

When forced to implement a system of questions to gather information, she found out how wrong she was. She thought she knew everything about a long-time client. But after she had asked the required questions, she realized she missed important and necessary information.

From that moment on, Meridith became a staunch advocate for embracing a CRM and any tools or resources that would propel her towards her goals. The moral of the story? Keep your ego in check. She continued forward and consistently closed $1 million a month in sales.

To hear in full detail her productivity process make sure you listen to this episode in its entirety!

Resources & People Mentioned

• Meridith’s Website

Connect with Meridith Elliot Powell

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Connect With Paul Watts 

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

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If you’re ready to move away from destructive habits and become a productive sales professional, where do you start? Are there daily nuisances distracting you and dividing your focus? In this episode of Sales Reinvented, Barb Giamanco joins Paul to help you get down to the root of your struggles and delivers some tips to get you started!

Barb Giamanco is the founder and CEO of Social Centered Selling. She’s all about helping salesmen and women find transformation and start reaching sales goals. One of her career goals is to encourage more women to become sales professionals. If you’re looking to jumpstart your sales productivity, listen to this transformative episode!

Outline of This Episode

• [1:05] What is productivity?
• [1:45] Why is it important?
• [2:45] Sales Technology: Less is More
• [6:50] Steps to improve day-to-day productivity
• [8:45] You NEED to know your numbers
• [11:50] Top productivity tools
• [14:45] Top 3 Do’s & Top 3 Don’ts
• [17:35] Barb’s favorite productivity story

When it comes to technology—less is more

Barb points out a stunning statistic: Salespeople are only using 15-20% of their time to engage in the sales process. Why? One reason is that companies expect their sales force to be data collectors. But should that really be their job? Probably not. If you’re in a leadership position, Barb advises reducing the administrative duties carried out by your sales staff.

She also notes that there is too much focus on a tech stack.

Eliminate apps, systems, and tools that don’t integrate well into your CRM. Stop using unnecessary software that makes you constantly shift between platforms. A sales team needs to be allowed to focus on making phone calls, sending emails, and connecting with people on LinkedIn. If something distracts them from that, it’s not worth using. 

Knock out what you find most difficult

Are you ready to improve day-to-day productivity? According to Barb, it’s all about planning. You must go into every day knowing what you’re going to accomplish. Scheduling time to complete specific tasks is how you drive results. She takes Sunday evenings to plan each day of the upcoming week—and blocks time in her schedule. 

She does not let anyone interfere with that time. She advocates protecting your calendar.

You need to prioritize your focus on what gets you closest to the cash. One way to do that? Knock out the difficult things first. Stop focusing your time and energy on the easy things that don’t drive results. They can fall into place later—or even be delegated. 

You better know your numbers

A good salesperson is focused, committed, and carries out the plans they’ve made for their schedule. Because in reality, if things don’t get done, you only have yourself to blame. This is why it’s beyond important to know your metrics.

How long does it take you to close a deal?

What is the average value of each opportunity?

How many opportunities do you need to hit your quota? 

Barb has run into many sales professionals who don’t have answers to those questions. There is no excuse!You need to know on average how many calls, appointments, demos, etc. will get you to a sale. Take ownership and learn your numbers.

Barb’s top suggestions to be successful

Here are Barb’s top tips:

• Eliminate distractions: Expounding on the “less is more” philosophy, one of Barb’s “Do’s” is eliminating unnecessary distractions. Remove all non-essential apps from your phone. Turn off notifications that drag you away from work you need to be focusing on. 
• Block similar activities: Do batch work for sales activities. You will be more productive when you aren’t shifting focus from one task to another. 
• Use Templates for personalized outreach: Take advantage of templates that you create that can be used for personalized outreach. It will take some research, but gives you a handy framework.

Being a successful salesperson involves knowing how to solve the problem of your target market and offering them the solution. It takes time and diligence to learn how to do this well. Becoming more productive is one of the best things you can implement to become more effective. 

Resources & People Mentioned

• Barb’s Book: The New Handshake
• Hubspot

Connect with Barb Giamanco

• Social Centered Selling
• Barb’s Personal Website
• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Connect With Paul Watts 

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

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Everyone uses a different productivity process in their daily work, but some maximize it more than others. If you’re ready to move beyond just completing checklists and want to efficiently generate revenue, you need to focus on productivity. So what should that look like?

Scott Ingram—Account Director at Relationship One and host of TWO podcasts—is here to chat with Paul about the process of productivity. Scott has a lot on his plate but manages to handle everything efficiently and effectively. How does he do it? Listen to this episode of Sales Reinvented to find out!

Outline of This Episode

• [0:20] Paul introduces Scott Ingram.
• [1:00] What is productivity?
• [2:45] Eliminate the “endless scroll”
• [4:55] The 4P productivity process for producing profit
• [8:45] A great salesperson must embody a maniacal focus
• [12:10] Be minimalist with the tools you use
• [13:55] Top 3 Do’s and Don’ts
• [15:00] Scott’s favorite productivity story

Overcome the distraction of the “endless scroll”

Scott defines productivity as “the amount of meaningful work you can get done in a given period of time”. What does meaningful work mean? Anything that pushes you towards generating revenue. How much revenue can you generate in one hour of meaningful work? If you’re questioning the level of meaningful work you’re able to knock out, it might be time to eliminate some distractions.

Scott notes that the world of technology seems to be conspiring against us.

You get notifications from your email, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn—the list is endless. Everyone knows it’s easy to get sucked into the rabbit-hole. Technology promises efficiency and delivers distraction. Scott recommends becoming more vigilant with your time. Leverage technology, don’t let it leverage you. Keep listening to find out what that looks like. 

Scott’s 4P Productivity Process for Producing Profit

Scott recently gave a presentation on productivity and was kind enough to summarize it (for the full walk-through of the topic, we’ve linked it in the resources below). If you’re ready to improve day-to-day productivity, consider this process:

1. Purge: Get rid of unnecessary distractions. Turn off app notifications and unsubscribe from emails crowding your inbox. Set a foundation for your day. 
2. Process and Plan: Develop a system that works for you. Put a checklist in place that covers your calendar, your pipeline, territory or whatever it is that contributes to meaningful work. 
3. Prioritize: What are you actually able to get done? What needs to get done now versus later? 
4. Perform: With the other 3 steps in place, go out and execute. Be consistent with the first three P’s and things will begin to fall into place.

Do you have the maniacal focus required to be successful?

The Oxford dictionary defines the word ‘Maniacal’ in its non-formal sense as someone “exhibiting or denoting obsessive enthusiasm”. Scott believes this is the #1 attribute of a great sales professional. Do they have the obsessive drive and focus needed to be the top salesperson in your company?

Scott runs a podcast in which he only interviews the top-performing sales professional in any given company (or top 1%). These men and women have proven to be the best of the best and have mastered the productivity process. 

He gives an amazing example of someone who is 200% more productive than the second-best salesperson in his organization—listen to hear his story!

It pays to be a minimalist

When asked what tools individuals could use to increase productivity, Scott noted that it is better to be a minimalist. Keep it simple. A few tools that are a given include Gmail and your calendar. Scott also enjoys using:

1. Evernote: A note-taking app that helps you stay effortly organized.
2. Todoist: an App Scott likes that helps you organize tasks and schedule deadlines to keep you on-task.
3. Brain.fm: Music that claims to improve focus and therefore productivity. 
4. Inbox Pause: an extension that stops emails from entering your inbox until you want them to. 

Above all, it’s about developing a process that you can execute consistently. To hear Scott’s top three “Do’s and Don’ts” make sure to listen to the whole episode!

Resources & People Mentioned

• The 4P Productivity Process for Producing Profit
• Sales Success Stories Podcast
• Inspired Marketing Podcast
• Evernote
• Todoist
• Brain.fm
• Inbox Pause

Connect with Scott Ingram

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Email: scott(at)top1.fm

Connect With Paul Watts 

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

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How can the average sales professional leverage their time to maximize their sales productivity? There doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day to get everything done and manage to meet their sales quotas. In this episode of Sales Reinvented, Brynne Tillman is here to share what productivity looks like for her. 

Brynne is the CEO of Social Sales Link and has mastered the art of marketing and sales on LinkedIn. She’s transforming the way professionals grow their business by taking social media sales to a whole new level. Her unique insight into the social world will leave an impact on you—so don’t miss this episode!

Outline of This Episode

• [0:20] Paul introduces Brynne Tillman.
• [1:20] What is productivity?
• [3:30] How can a salesperson improve day-to-day?
• [6:00] Characteristics of a productive person
• [8:15] Tools, tactics, and strategies to put in place
• [11:30] Top 3 Do’s and Don’ts
• [14:20] Favorite Productivity Story

Do what you love—and everything in-between

Brynne points out that the average salesperson usually has an engaging personality. They can be charming, can build relationships quickly, and excel at small talk. But they don’t always know how to make the best use of their time. Many focus on the aspects of the job that they love but struggle to engage in the part of the process that converts to money.

So how does one remedy that? 

Start by identifying what you love and excel at. Then identify the gaps—where do you struggle or lack confidence? Schedule time to learn and begin to excel at the items on your to-do list that are a downfall. Get organized, schedule everything, and find someone to keep you accountable to do those things. 

Maximizing sales productivity day-to-day

Brynne’s number one tip? Live and die by your calendar. Schedule everything from meetings to simple follow-up calls. If you don’t schedule it, you’ll likely forget it. She recommends a nifty tool, Boomerang for Gmail. You can mark certain emails to get moved to the top of your inbox at specific dates and times. It’s one of her favorite productivity tools. 

Not everyone is gifted with the traits needed to be project managers, yet we are all project managers. She recommends making small behavioral changes. If you’ve already identified what you don’t excel at, don’t shout it to the world. Don’t let your negative words become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead, be open to learning, growing, changing, and adapting. 

You aren’t a real company until you incorporate a CRM!

A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System is something Brynne strongly believes every business needs to have in place to be productive and profitable. Don’t underestimate the usefulness of a great system—it can be your biggest productivity asset. They usually incorporate tools to give you reminders and help keep you on task for every step of the sales process. 

Find the right tech that supports the habits of a salesperson. It doesn’t have to be expensive. Brynne recommends Nimble as an affordable CRM for any business to start with. Her favorite CRM is SharpString, which has a Chrome plugin you can integrate to keep you on task. 

For more tools, tactics, and strategies—listen to the whole episode!

Stay in front of your prospects

Bookmarks are something that everyone is familiar with and uses to some extent, but Brynne takes it to the next level. As she comes across connections or prospects on LinkedIn, she’ll add their information into a bookmark folder. At any given time she could have up to 80 people added into the folder.

If she comes across an interesting blog post or article, she’ll open every single one of the profiles that are saved in the bookmark. She writes a short but personal note and sends the article their way. It’s a unique way to provide value and allows her to stay at the forefront of their minds. 

It’s a genius way to leverage the tools available. She landed a new client within 20 minutes of giving the tactic a shot. Don’t be afraid to try something new and innovative, you never know if it will help you land your next customer!

Resources & People Mentioned

• Boomerang for Gmail
• Nimble CRM
• SharpSpring CRM
• Calendly

Connect with Brynne Tillman

• Social Sales Link
• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Connect With Paul Watts 

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

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