Have you ever left work at the end of a really long day where you felt like you were running like crazy, yet accomplished nothing?
How about a day where you left exhausted, yet satisfied, and saw the team move forward?
Those exhausted yet satisfied days are the ones where the activity was tied to your priorities. The frustrating days are when there was a lot of activity that felt like it didn’t move you forward toward any of your goals. It sounds simple: make sure all your activity ties in to your priorities.
It is time to make sure that what you do each day ties back to what you want to accomplish for inside sale success.
Priority List
There is an important distinction between a priority list and a “to do” list.
Priority, according to Miriam-Webster, is “something that is more important than other things and that needs to be done or dealt with first.”
• Priority lists tie directly back to your Inside Sales Vision, achievement of your First Area of Business Growth and progress toward the Single Team Change you’ve set.
• A “to do” list contains random tasks that need activity, with no hint as to their importance.
Both will help you be successful, but the majority of people don’t differentiate. They believe if it needs to be done, it is on the list, and therefore it must be a priority.
Another important concept to remember is that something might be a priority on one day but not the next. If you have a sales meeting tomorrow; setting an agenda and doing prep will be a priority for today BUT next month’s sales meeting prep will not be a priority two days from now.
Never forget; you lead people and manage tasks/things as you create your priority list.
In your organization you are expected to both manage and lead your inside sales team. Once you create your first draft of a priority list, make sure to look for balance between these two, at times, competing expectations.
Set Daily Expectations
Once you’ve created your own priority list, you may want to do a group exercise with your team and create an inside salesperson priority list.
Use your sales process and customer buying process to begin the conversation, perhaps even creating a behavior pyramid together if you haven’t already.
You may decide to have a basic team priority list and give each inside salesperson the opportunity to customize it. This customization allows them to make sure their personal goals are part of the priority list.
Having the team create this list will give you a level of buy-in, facilitating the conversation gives you the opportunity to talk about organizational expectations as they are working on their expectations of themselves.
A side benefit will be easier accountability conversations with each inside salesperson. After all, they said the things on that list are a priority.
Allow For Exceptions
Those exceptions may happen for you… or for the salespeople on your team! It is important to remember, there will be days when a priority list will change.
On a day when a proposal has to be created for a business opportunity found yesterday, “find and identify opportunities” from our example behavior pyramid may be ranked lower.
If an inside salesperson is reaching a high percentage of decision makers, longer conversations will drive dials lower for the day.
Be sure to set the direction your team is headed! When working with the individuals on your team, use that direction to keep them moving toward success.