Stop doing so much

What percentage of time do salespeople spend in front of clients and prospects "selling?" This applies to not just media salespeople but all salespeople.

Are you ready?

39%

That's according to Hubspot's 2024 Sales Trends report. That means over 60% of a seller's time is not spent selling. Now, before you blame your manager or the company CRM system, here are some other stats to consider:

CRMs are the most popular sales tools, followed by social prospecting, data services, email, phone and sales cadence. (SalesforLife)

CRMs can boost sales by 29% and productivity to 34%. (Salesforce)

This week was the final session of our spring Leadership MasterClass. In our session, we discussed time and task management. This topic seems to resonate with both managers and sellers as our lives and jobs seem to be increasingly complex. New tools like CRMs, AI bots and other technological advancements can help the symptoms, but they rarely eliminate the core problem.

The core problem identified this week by a brilliant group of managers in our class was prioritization. We may all have a "to-do" list daily, but is that list prioritized in order of importance to our overall goal, or does someone else's agenda simply prioritize it?

I’ve never been one to use the phrase, "That's not my job." Managers and even co-workers would find that statement off-putting. At the same time, when it comes to time management, we must prioritize our role priorities first. In other words, what priorities will get us closer to achieving our goals? There is a simple "filter question" to ask yourself: "Is what I'm doing at this moment in time getting me closer to my goal?" If the answer is "no" or "maybe," then you should consider NOT doing it.

If we’re not protective of our own time, who will be?

James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, says:

"Mastery is not only about getting better at your craft, but also about finding ways to eliminate the obstacles, distractions and other annoyances that prevent you from working on your craft. 

Top performers find ways to spend as much time as possible on what matters and as little time as possible on what doesn't. It is not someone else's responsibility to create the conditions for success. 

You have to actively work to eliminate the things that don't matter from your workload. If you haven't figured out how to do that, you haven't mastered your craft."

Eliminate the things that don't matter = prioritization.

Dave Casper, SVP of Digital Services at RAB, would not be happy with me if I mentioned CRM statistics but didn't mention that his team has created a fantastic CRM tool called Account Manager. It was built and continues to be modified by broadcasters, for broadcasters. You can find out more, watch a short demo video, and book a demo with Dave and his team here.

Doing more or being busy isn't the answer. We are all busy. The answer is greater productivity, which means doing less but focusing on what will help you achieve your objectives. As you review your to-do list, you might benefit from prioritizing your tasks rather than just listing them.

Jeff Schmidt is the SVP of Professional Development. You can reach him at Jeff.Schmidt@rab.com. You can all so connect with him on X and LinkedIn.