Time for Important BUT Not Urgent

If you are like most of the inside sales leaders I work with, the majority of your time is spent on URGENT.

Then, depending on the day and how honest you are with yourself – the level of importance of those urgent tasks will vary.
The unfortunate thing is that most inside sales leaders, never seem to have the time to move off of urgent and focus on activities that are important but not urgent… YET.

If an activity is truly important, eventually the urgency level will increase to the point it is no longer tolerable.

CHALLENGE = carve out two, 1-hour blocks of time this week; for the important BUT not urgent.

If you’re so frazzled you don’t even know what might be important BUT not urgent, here are three ideas:
> Coaching an individual on your team who is a good employee yet only an ok salesperson. Take a salesperson on your team out to lunch this week to discuss their career vision – TWICE.
> Looking at the territory management skills of each individual on your team. Pull up an account list and see if the salespeople on your team are effectively covering their account base.
> Taking the time to catch people doing a good job. Look for the bright spots on your team; congratulate, thank, encourage people to keep going!

If you don’t take time for important but not urgent activities each week, eventually you will be:
< Hiring someone new because that good employee left. < Freaking out over why the team isn't growing sales. < Frustrated because the inside salespeople on your team don't seem to care.