Time Management for Sales Reps

90% of salespeople can't sell to the C-Suite. It shows: Only 10% of C-Suite executives say sales calls were valuable enough to schedule a follow up. 4 tips to sell to the C-Suite like the top 10% of sellers: 1. Don't make the C-Suite your first meeting. You’ll be tempted to go after the CXO first. Don’t. Unless you already have inside info: Do your homework first. The worst thing you can do? Show up to the C-Suite empty-handed. Do a few “rounds” first. If you sell to CTOs, talk to the engineers. If you sell to CROs, talk to the AEs. If you sell to CHROs, talk to the recruiters. Pay your dues. 2. Start the meeting with a “What I Know” slide. Most CXOs expect sales meetings to be a waste. They rarely agree to them. When they do, they do it reluctantly. But. If you SHOW up like this: “Ok. I’ve talked to three people in your org, read your 10K, and talked to a customer in your industry. Maybe we can start with a summary of what I’ve learned to get your perspective.” INSTANT CREDIBILITY. They will sigh with relief: “Wow, the first time a sales call isn’t a waste,” they’ll think. The rest is yours to lose. 3. RESEARCH-BASED Discovery Only This is not the time for typical discovery. You should have done that by now. That doesn’t mean you can’t ask questions. But. They better be informed. They better be targeted. They better share observations. BAD EXAMPLE: “Tell me about your function's biggest challenges.” *EYE ROLL* GOOD EXAMPLE: “When I talked to John, he mentioned the company was struggling to recruit engineers to get new features to market fast enough. "His concern was hitting deadlines, but I have to imagine you have a broader view of why this issue matters. "Assuming this is a top-of-mind issue, how about we start by getting your take on that?” Do that. That's how you get them listening. 4. Lean on your champion for TACTICAL next steps. This may come as a shock: Don't try to “lock in next steps” with the CXO. They start their day at 7am. They end their day at 7pm. Back to back meetings all day. They are not looking forward to more. Yes, you want to talk again. But use your champion for 'tactical' next steps. Reserve C-Suite next steps for strategic meetings: “I think Lisa and I can take next steps from here. "I’ll keep you in the loop. The one meeting I do think we should have next will be in three weeks from now where we debrief the business case. "Between now and then you’re off the hook, but mind if I go through your EA so that you, me, and Lisa can review this a few weeks out?” “This person gets it,” they’ll think. Ok. That’s four tips. They won't transform your life. But they will level you up a notch. Give 'em a try, and tag a seller who'd like this.

I've tried 100s of time management techniques.  This is by far my favourite: I used to work 80 hrs/week and call it "productive." When really I was: - Attending pointless meetings - Fighting countless small fires - Being involved in every decision Now I work less than 70% the time and get 4x as much done. The Eisenhower Matrix helped me get there.  It teaches you to categorise tasks by importance and urgency. Here's how it works: 1. Do It Now (Urgent + Important) Examples: - Finalise pitch deck before investor meeting tomorrow. - Fix website crash during peak customer traffic. - Respond to press interview request before deadline. Best Practices: - Attack these tasks first each morning with full focus. - Set a strict deadline so urgency fuels execution. 2. Schedule It (Important + Not Urgent) Examples: - Plan quarterly strategy session with leadership team. - Map long-term hiring plan for next 18 months. - Build a personal brand content system for LinkedIn. Best Practices: - Protect time blocks in advance. Never leave them floating. - Tie them to measurable outcomes, not vague intentions. 3. Delegate It (Urgent + Not Important) Examples: - Handle inbound customer service queries this week. - Organise travel logistics for upcoming conference. - Update CRM with latest sales call notes. Best Practices: - Build playbooks so your team executes without confusion. - Delegate with deadlines to avoid wasting time. 4. Eliminate It (Not Urgent + Not Important) Examples: - Tweak logo colour palette again for fun. - Attend generic networking events with no ICP fit. - Review endless “best productivity tools” articles. Best Practices: - Audit weekly. Cut anything that doesn’t compound long-term. - Replace low-value busywork with rest, thinking, or selling. If you are always reacting to what feels urgent,   You'll never focus on what matters. Attend to the tasks in quadrant 1 efficiently,  Then spend 60-70% of your time in quadrant 2.    That's work that actually builds your business. Which quadrant are you spending too much time in right now?  Drop your thoughts in the comments. My newsletter, Step By Step, breaks down more frameworks like this. It's designed to help you build smarter without burning out. 200k+ builders use it to develop better systems. Join them here:  https://lnkd.in/eUTCQTWb ♻️ Repost this to help other founders manage their time.  And follow Chris Donnelly for more on building and running businesses. 

I just analyzed the calendars of 50 top performing sales reps. The difference between quota crushers and quota missers isn't what you think. It's not their territory. Not their product. Not their comp plan. → It's how they structure their TIME. After a decade coaching thousands of sales professionals I've noticed something. High performers don't work more hours. They work different hours. They obsess over IPAs. Income Producing Activities. Average reps spend over half their week on admin garbage. Top earners ruthlessly protect time for revenue generating work. I recently tracked my own time for two full weeks. Down to 15 minute blocks. The results shocked me (Yes, I’m still able to shock myself sometimes). Even though I teach this stuff I was spending 35% of my week on $20 per hour tasks instead of $2,000 per hour activities. I was stepping over hundred dollar bills to pick up pennies. Here's exactly how elite sales performers structure their week. Increasing pipeline - 25 to 30% of time Cold outreach that actually converts Social selling that builds real authority Discovery calls that uncover massive pain Creating opportunities not just conversations Progressing pipeline - 25 to 30% of time Moving deals forward with clear purpose Meeting key stakeholders Running customized demos Building business cases that sell themselves Closing pipeline - 15 to 20% of time Negotiating from a position of strength Handling objections before they surface Working legal and procurement strategically Actually asking for the business Upgrading skills - 15 to 20% of time Mastering objection handling frameworks Improving discovery techniques Studying influence and persuasion Learning from top performers Here's how to reclaim your time starting today. Step 1. Run a brutal time audit Track every 15 to 30 minutes for one full week. No lying to yourself. No rounding up. Just raw data on where your time actually goes. Step 2 . Categorize every single activity Time wasting activities that cost you money Low value admin worth $20 per hour Core selling activities worth $200 per hour High leverage skills worth $500 plus per hour Step 3. Calculate your IPA percentage What percentage of your week is spent directly generating revenue? If it's under 75% you're leaving massive money on the table. Step 4. Eliminate, automate, delegate Eliminate the zero dollar per hour activities completely Automate the repetitive busywork Delegate the necessary but low leverage tasks I hired an EA after realizing I was wasting 14 plus hours weekly on tasks I could delegate for $25 per hour. That's $28,000 in opportunity cost every single week. The math is brutally simple. $20 per hour tasks times 14 hours equals $280 value created $2,000 per hour tasks times 14 hours equals $28,000 value created What if the biggest lever to grow your sales income isn’t what you sell - but how you spend your time? ⏳ I unpacked the whole strategy in the comments 👀

Most sales reps waste 50% of their workday without realizing it. Not because they’re lazy. Not because they lack skill. But because they lack structure and focus. Here are two simple practices that will change your productivity forever: 1. Calendar block your top priorities first thing in the morning. Before you check email or Slack, decide what your 2–3 most important tasks are for the day. Then put them on your calendar. If you don’t, your day will get hijacked by everyone else’s priorities. White space on your calendar usually turns into wasted space - busy work, admin work, or distractions. It also leads to decision fatigue, which is the exhausting process of deciding what to do over and over again throughout the day. When you block your priorities, you protect your time for the things that actually move the needle. 2. Put your phone away when doing RGA's or deep work. According to a Fortune study, the average person checks their phone 144 times per day. That’s 144 opportunities to derail your focus. If you’re trying to do deep work or work on revenue generating activities (RGAs), put your phone in another room. If it rings, you’ll hear it. But if it’s out of sight, it’s out of mind. Your phone is designed to steal your attention. Your calendar is designed to protect it. Follow these two practices and watch your hours on RGAs rise from two or three a day to four or five. And when you double your time on high-value work in sales, you double your income. Simple, but not easy. PS - if you want to check how many daily pickups you average, navigate to "Screen Time" on your iPhone, click "See All App & Website Activity", scroll down to "Pickups", and you can view your daily and weekly average. I like to check prior weeks and see how I'm trending. I averaged 87 pickups two weeks ago, 80 last week, and this week I'm averaging 76.

If I was onboarding 5 new SDRs, here's exactly what I would do to guide them to exceed target in 90 days. Step 1: Learn the industry FIRST This is the most important step and most companies skip it. You can be subpar at prospecting and still do well if you deeply understand your buyers. Who are they? What keeps them up at night? How do they make decisions? What's the industry makeup? I remember reading every single article on VP of Marketing + CMOs when I worked at Terminus so I knew the lingo. When you know this, your conversations become 10x easier. Step 2: Set up their LinkedIn profile Now that they understand who they're talking to, let's make sure their profile reflects that. The question every rep needs to ask themselves is... How do we position our profile as someone worth responding to? I would immediately remove your job title from your profile and make the headline outcome focused. Think landing pages, not resume. Step 3: Get comfortable with the tech (but only 3-4 tools) I'm starting to believe you shouldn't give new reps all the tools at once. Start them with the basics: ↳ Sales engagement tool ↳ Data tool ↳ CRM That's it. Master those first. As they get better, they unlock new tools. As leaders, I think we need to have all SDRs master the fundamentals of these three tools so that the other tools are easier to use. Step 4: Creative prospecting Once they're comfortable with the basics, now we layer in video prospecting, voice notes, and creative outreach. I remember as an SDR, once I got the cold calling down I could easily translate those skills into more creative prospecting. This is where they start standing out from everyone else in the inbox. Step 5: Memorize 3 customer stories When I was an SDR manager, I told my team.. everyone needs to memorize 3 customer stories. That's it. Just 3. When you're on a call and you can reference a real story about someone like them... the conversation shifts. That's how you create relevancy by sharing a real point of connection they can relate to. These 5 things in the first 90 days will set your team up for success. P.S. Which step does your team need to focus on most?

How long should your onboarding program for SDRs be? I’ve now either trained or onboarded 1000+ SDRs in my career. I’ve built onboarding programs that were 1 week long, and more comprehensive programs that were 4 weeks long. Here’s what I’ve learned: 1. People don’t learn by being overloaded with documentation and videos upfront. 2. Onboarding doesn’t need to just happen in the first few weeks. Breaking down concepts in “micro lessons” over a period of time is more helpful. For example, if you sell 5 use cases, your SDRs don’t need to learn all 5 use cases in the first few weeks of onboarding. Let them master 1-2, focus on those prospects then unlock other personas. 3. People don’t retain information unless there is a continuous learning & re-enforcement loop You SHOULD set up weekly 1-1s, weekly calls reviews and power hours with reps from week 2 IMO. 4. Let SDRs learn on the job. Let them know it’s OKAY to fail. It’s okay to have some role playing up front. In fact, I recommend it. But don’t focus on this TOO heavily. They will butcher some calls and objections. Start practicing on Tier C accounts, don’t put new SDRs on the best accounts right away. With various AI sales enablement platforms like GTM Buddy, you can feed your SDRs real-time content, battlecards and learning as they are actually doing their job. It helps A LOT when it comes to actually learning and retaining information. My recommendation? Make your “official” onboarding for SDRs 1 week long. Include the following: 1. Upfront contract setting expectations for both manager and SDR 2. Day in the life of your Key Personas (Start with 1-2) 3. Main Problems you solve for  4. Basic platform functionality and how it solves problems for personas 5. How to structure your day / manage your time 6. Email / Copy Lessons 7. Cold Calling Lessons + Scripts 8. Using LinkedIn as a channel 9. Role Plays + Certifications for Email, Calls, LinkedIn 10. Overview of critical systems / tech stack Then focus on CONSTANTLY re-enforcing these. #sales #outbound

Want to know why top performers close 2-3x more deals than average reps? It's not that they're smarter. It's that they've mastered deep work. After studying hundreds of high-performing sellers, I've found one consistent pattern: They protect their prime selling hours like their life depends on it. Most reps are drowning in shallow work, constantly switching between email, Slack, CRM updates, and social media. Each task switch costs you 23 minutes of focused energy. The result is a day filled with activity but empty of results. Here's how innovative sellers are implementing deep work: 1️⃣ Power Blocks They schedule 90-minute uninterrupted blocks for their most important selling activities. No email. No Slack. No phone. Just focused execution on revenue-generating work. 2️⃣ Energy Management They align their most important tasks with their peak energy hours. For most, that's 9-11 AM, not 3 PM after back-to-back meetings. 3️⃣ AI-Powered Prep They leverage AI to prepare for sales calls in half the time. "I feed the AI my call notes, recent news, and past objections. It gives me a hyper-focused prep document in 5 minutes instead of 45." 4️⃣ Elimination Before Optimization Before trying to get faster at tasks, they ask: "Does this task even need to exist?" You can't optimize what should be eliminated. 5️⃣ Digital Minimalism They turn off all notifications during selling hours. No Slack pings. No email popups. No LinkedIn alerts. The sellers implementing these practices aren't working more hours. They're just getting 3x more value from the hours they work. Most sales organizations obsess over activity metrics while ignoring the quality of focus behind them. What would happen if you protected just one 90-minute deep work block every day?

Here’s how to have a conversation with a human being. As salespeople, we’ve been taught to never end a meeting with a prospect without booking another one. The demo ends. The prospect says, “I’ll let you know.” The seller jumps in: “How long do you need to decide?” The prospect says, “A week.” The seller, trained by the gospel of “always set a next meeting,” replies: “Perfect. Let’s get 15 minutes on the calendar for a quick check-in so we can get to a yes or a no. How about next Wednesday at 10 or 11 Eastern?” The prospect, not wanting to be rude, says sure. The seller logs the next step in Salesforce and pounds their chest. Then Wednesday rolls around. And the prospect ghosts. Why? Pressure. The meeting wasn’t a mutual commitment. It was compliance. The prospect agreed because it was easier in the moment than saying no. When you push for a next step that isn’t earned, you get politeness instead of progress. You get calendar clutter instead of clarity. Here’s what I suggest instead. At the end of the meeting, see if the prospect is motivated to continue the conversation: “You probably have a sense of whether this is worth exploring further.” If there’s interest, gently suggest a next step that benefits the prospect, not you. Something like this: “After seeing the demo, some folks like to try it out for themselves in their environment. Is that something you’d like to do?” If they say no, that’s okay. “Sounds like the demo missed the mark.” Then shut the front door. And ask, “Where would you like to go from here?” That small shift changes everything. It replaces pressure with permission. And when people feel safe, they’re more honest. The best next meeting isn’t one you push for. It’s one the prospect asks for. You don’t create motivation, you align with it.

46% of you said you'd delete deal dashboards showing you "deals at risk" or "top deal milestones" if you could replace them with this dashboard: A dashboard that shows you what your top performers do differently than everybody else. I get it.  👉 The top 25% of performers are generating over 75% of revenue. What would it mean if you could identify what your top performers are doing differently? How would it impact your growth goals if you could create a repeatable process to roll out those learnings to empower your entire team with data-backed best practices? Each team is going to have different practices and skill sets that define their   ✨ ELITE  ✨ sellers depending on deal size, ICP, product, etc. You need access to your own dashboard and your own data to get dialed in. 🎯  Cheat code to get you started: Digging into SetSail data, I found that top sellers are 6X more likely to get a VP-level + contact to attend a sales meeting. Why does it matter? Having an executive sponsor shortens sales cycles and increases the probability of closing a deal. How can you get a VP-level + contact to attend a sales meeting in 2 steps? Step 1: Top sellers are multi-threaded to 3+ contacts in each account. I prefer 5-8 contacts per account. One of those contacts should always be VP-level + Use this outreach to build awareness & credibility. Help the Exec Sponsor understand why a meeting is valuable to them even if they ultimately ask you to run the sales cycle with a direct report, their awareness gets more deals done, faster. Step 2: Don't expect your champion to use all of their social capital to sell for you. Do work with your champion to create the business case for a VP to join a meeting. Your champion or the product-level decision-maker may be worried about asking their superior to attend a meeting with a salesperson. They may be afraid of wasting their Exec Sponsor's time or may not be as confident in their decision to work with you as you hoped. Make it easy for them. Be specific about what value the VP+ contact would get from the meeting. Co-create copy or a slide deck or whatever helps your champion best communicate that value. BONUS Step 3: Make sure you show up to that meeting EXTREMELY prepared. Prepared doesn't mean prepared to pitch or demo. Prepared means that you are clear on what this deal would mean to the Exec Sponsor. How would it make their life easier? How would it make them look good? What do you see your top 25% sellers doing differently: https://lnkd.in/gfa4Yh7f

Always ask for the mini tour. Here’s why. Most reps never leave the lobby. They sit on the leather couch, have the meeting, then walk out. Big mistake. You need to get past that lobby door. That’s where the real work happens. I’ve been selling for 30 years, and this one move changes everything. When you walk their space, you gather real intel. The systems they use. The equipment on every desk. The software on every screen. Maybe you sell HR tech, but you notice their freight system is outdated. Now you’ve got another conversation waiting. Or you spot your competitor’s equipment everywhere. That tells you how they buy. What they value. Where you need to focus. The tour isn’t about being polite. It’s about understanding their world. You’re not closing in one meeting anyway. You’re building something over years. The more you see how they operate, the better you can serve them. And the more doors you open. I’ve uncovered million-dollar opportunities just by asking, “Mind if I see your setup?” Most buyers say yes. They’re proud of what they’ve built. Next meeting, don’t settle for the lobby. Ask for the tour. Watch what you discover.