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Seven things you need to do every day

May 15, 2014

By Ray Barry, NAID Deputy Executive Director

Whether you are a sales professional, business owner, or you wear many hats, your typical day is most likely hectic and full. It is easy for professionals to fall into the habit of spending time on menial tasks that do not generate revenue for the business.

In this day and age, professionals get distracted easily by unimportant emails, non-urgent phone calls, or spending too much time playing on social networking sites (notice I said “playing” on social networking sites, not implementing your social networking strategy). In this economic climate, it is important to work every day on key strategies that will have a direct impact on business and revenue growth.

I get asked a lot about time management strategies and where sales professionals should be investing their time each day. Here are seven daily must-dos for a sales professional or business owner:

  1. Read about positive attitude or something positive for at least 15 minutes a day.
  2. Each day read for at least 15 minutes about sales improvement or sales strategies.
  3. Prospect at least one or two hours every day (hopefully more). What’s your preferred method? I hope it’s not cold calling!
  4. Network every day (e.g., industry associations, referral groups, company board of directors, etc.)!
  5. Meet with at least two new prospects a day.
  6. Send at least one thank you card or some sort of “thanks” to your prospect, client, associate, strategic partner, etc.
  7. Plan ahead and review your goals daily.

BONUS: Speak with at least one client every day. Cultivate the relationship to generate referrals.

We all have the same amount of available time, 24 hours in a day. The most successful people do a better job of investing, not wasting, their time in impactful activities.