3 Distraction Avoidance Tips – The How To (video)

*sigh* thanks a lot for your three DISTRaction avoidance tips, but HOW do I put them into practice?

I’m so glad you asked!

Here is a quick review of the tips
• set your own priorities
• judge EVERYTHING based on its ability to help you move forward toward your goals
• create focus times for yourself

Now for the how to:

#1 – set your own priorities
Here is something that gets lost in the day to day activities of our inside sales world. Make sure you know what is on your MUST do list for the day.

Then when something new shows up ALWAYS determine if it is more or less important PLUS more or less urgent than what is already on your MUST do list.

Less Important? – add it to the bottom of the list; don’t stop what you’re doing, keep moving through your priorities.

Less Urgent? – perhaps it could be on tomorrows must do list & not distract you from today’s plan at all.

#2 – judge EVERYTHING based on its ability to help you move forward toward your goals
Make sure you consider IF what just popped up is going to help. One question that drove my sales team crazy back when I was a manager was:

“Is that making you any money?”

The truth is – it drove them crazy because the majority of the time if I had to ask – the answer was probably no.

My suggestion is you pick a question that addresses your goals and begin asking YOURSELF the question, instead of waiting for someone else to care enough to ask.

#3 – create focus times for yourself
In general I find that inside salespeople like to be distracted, at least part of the time. Perhaps it is the social need overcoming the day to day activities of the job. Or maybe it is a level of frustration that needs to be released.

Look at your day and pick a way to create focus, here are a few examples I’ve see people use successfully:
• Power Hour: set aside an hour for full on outbound dial activity, plus have other people join you to keep each other accountable (either in your cube, or with a group IM chat to track dials/conversations/deals)
• Or consider blocking off time for research: create an inclusive time (meaning you don’t go OVER your time limit) to do research on people, your industry, or accounts.
• You could also divide up the day: figure out you are at your best with prospects PLUS when you’re most successful reaching people – then set aside those times for outbound activity, and the rest of the time for everything else you need to get done.

Ultimately it is up to you.

Don’t let yourself be DISed during your day! Stop the distractions so you can take action to move toward your own success.