The secret to a more productive day is not a longer day - it always lies in cutting the fat from current operations. No matter the industry, you can always cut away from activities that aren't bringing anything productive or beneficial to your company's table. Here are 10 time wasting activities that you can eliminate from your sales team's agenda to get more done without springing for overtime pay.
Outdated Social Media Networks
The social media landscape changes every 2 to 3 years. Platforms that were the center of the universe last year can often mean nothing this year, and if you are not filtering your social media use by limiting your time to the platforms that actually attract your target market, then you are wasting time! Your marketing team should be keyed in on which platforms attract your customers and which don't, and should advise your sales team from there.
Assembly Line Blogging
Blogging can be a productive avenue to market your business, but only if it is actually working. Once you have the data to quantify your results, make a decision then. Don't automatically assume that you have to put your blogs on an assembly line to get results.
Creating Link Microsites
Google and other major search engines are moving towards a world of organic link building, so any efforts that you are making today to improve your link profile that are not fully authentic will only gut you in the future.
Big Data Overload
Your sales team does not need to be over-analyzing big data; they should be on the front lines. Too many companies struggle with trying to interpret stats that aren't even the right KPIs to begin with.
Press Release Overload
The best and most relevant news about your business can often times spread organically. People can tell the difference between a story that is actually going viral and one that is propped up solely by the company of origin. While PR is an important part of growing a business, it's not a salesperson's job to be pushing press releases.
Answering Customer Service Emails
Your sales team may feel the urge to cement that relationship with an unsatisfied customer themselves, but that is what your customer service team is for. Eliminate the soft heart from the sales floor and keep them selling. A check-in phone call or email is acceptable, but they shouldn't be handling or solving the issue entirely.
Selling During Breaks
Believe it or not, when you implement a hard break during the day, you should not reward those salespeople who try to suck up and work through it. The human mind and body needs periods of rest, and you are only reducing the efficiency of your team by allowing them to work through breaks. Kill the grandstanding.
Motivation Overload
If your sales team needs a motivational speech every two days or some incentive to do their job to a standard, it is time to implement some kind of change. Motivation from the outside is one thing when it is done with balance. However, it is the responsibility of the employee to keep himself motivated as well.
Taking Work Home
If a top performing salesperson is taking work home because she simply does not have time to deal with the influx of business, that's one thing. It is another to try to force an under-performing salesperson to take work home because it's incomplete. Longer hours are not necessary, higher productivity is.
Convincing Every Prospect
If your KPIs are based too much on percentage conversion rates, then your sales team may feel pressured to spend too much time with people who will never buy. Find the balance.
