Hello promotion sales consultants…. how’s your screen time? Do you suffer from the silent disease I call The Abuse Excuse? The internet, apps, Zoom, chats, search engines, emails, social media, and video games are enemies of selling time. Do not justify it to yourself or your manager... that is The Abuse Excuse. Technology is a friend of selling but also a time-sucking leech… and sucking more each year.
Here is how a sales rep's week breaks down according to a recent survey by Pace Productivity:
23% - administration
10% - service
13% - travel
12% order processing
10% planning
6% breaks
4% misc.
And 22% selling
You can’t gather real wealth giving so few hours to selling. As a lifelong sales manager, I would have expected that selling time would be no less than 50% in the survey. Do the math, 22% of a 40-hour business week means it is about 8 hours of true sales time.
I don’t know where “screen time” fits into that survey, but it has to be the biggest time bandit of all. Be it screen time to service, communicate, administer, write and plan, map and travel… it all adds up. I left out professional development. Humbly, I say I am a huge cause of this time bandit. In 2004 along with industry veteran Dennis Burnham, we brought the very first webinars to the big and small companies. That was when bandwidth on Webex cost $40,000 a year and today you can get it done free. Hence, every supplier has gotten into the portal. I recall the trepidation of the Geiger sales managers wondering if their people would sit for a webinar. “Trepidate” no more. Ask yourself what portion of your average workday is spent on the screen. Many distributors (both pre- and post-Covid) work from home. That’s a perfect place to hide away and kill time on the screen. The screen is on your computer, tablet, and phone. I suggest all this time is not necessary and is counterproductive.
By the way, if you need 5 hours of travel to accommodate 8 hours of selling in person, your territory is probably too big.
If sales is your occupation, then somehow you are going to have to find a way to lower admin time. Either do it after hours, find an assistant, or join a larger firm that will do it for you. If you already have an assistant or are in a larger firm and are still spending 20ish percent of your time on administration, you better explore other options. This is over the top unless you are an internet/company store-type operation.
Given all the administration and screen time people spend, I would assume they have automated their processes and batched their work for efficiency. That is just one of many ways to lower screen time:
Hire Siri, or any of her AI voices, to read your emails and texts during travel. Keep your eyes on the road.
Set up your emails as IMPA so that what you do on one device is on all other devices.
Record and play a Zoom meeting you may have attended. Replay the audio in the car, bathroom, or at lunch. Plus… trade shows now involve digital components. You can’t kill selling time attending them all.
Use a time tracker. Larsen's research found that 23% of salespeople use a time management system/time tracker and gain 19% more time selling.
Allocate the number of hours you are willing to give to online meetings and presentations.
Seek peer-to-peer reviews on the supplier presentation you want to join. Not every presenter gives you a takeaway that can help your sales. Qualify your presenter and supplier... from big supplier to little, from consultant to coach, from regional association to ASI or PPAI. From shows that now involve digital components to social networks and volunteer groups, all of them want to take you away from selling time.
Clock your tablet and phone screen time. Set a goal for reduction.
Discipline yourself to use the early morning and later afternoon hours for non-essential administrative work.
Stop making excuses. Put a mirror on your computer screen and every time you see yourself in the mirror ask, do I have to be sitting here or should I be selling?
Joel D. Schaffer, MAS is CEO and Founder of Soundline, LLC, the pioneering supplier to the promotional products industry of audio products. Joel has 48 years of promotional product industry experience and proudly heralds “I was a distributor.” He has been on the advisory panel of the business and marketing department of St. John’s University in New York and is a frequent speaker at Rutgers Graduate School of Business. He is an industry Advocate and has appeared before the American Bankers Association, American Marketing Association, National Premium Sales Executives, American Booksellers Association and several other major groups. He has been a management consultant to organizations such as The College Board and helped many suppliers enter this industry. He is a frequent contributor to PPB and Counselor magazines. He has facilitated over 200 classes sharing his industry knowledge nationwide. He is known for his cutting humor and enthusiasm in presenting provocative and motivating programs. He is the only person to have received both the Marvin Spike Industry Lifetime Achievement Award (2002) and PPAI’s Distinguished Service Award (2011). He is a past director of PPAI and has chaired several PPAI committees and task forces. He is a past Chair of the SAAGNY Foundation, Past President of SAAGNY and a SAAGNY Hall of Fame member. He was cited by ASI as one of the 50 most influential people in the industry.