"The basis for the development of

all organizational skills

is job planning"

The basis for the development of all organizational skills is work planning. "If you don't know where you're going, you'll probably never get there." This skill prevents wishful thinking, organizes matters and helps you focus on the most important priorities, so that we can see if all activities have been taken into account. Moreover, planning motivates us to act.

Efficient time management methods begin with all scheduled to do. The next step is to prioritize each one individually.

Our first step should be to list all tasks with the planned deadline for their execution. In turn, it is important to prioritize each planned action individually. The simple and very useful Pareto rule will be extremely helpful in this, which allows you to significantly increase your personal effectiveness to achieve a specific goal. 

The genesis of the Pareto principle dates back to 1897, when Italian economist and sociologist Vilfredo marquis Federico Damaso Pareto found that 20% of The Italian's population owns 80% of the country's assets. An increasing number of economic and economic developments have proved to be subject to 80/20. Similarly, twenty percent of our efforts bring as much as eighty percent of our efforts. Of course, approximately, as the proportions of numbers may be slightly different, but it is a visible disparity between effort and effect. The fact that 20% of the activity brings us as much as 80% of the results and 80% of the activity generates only 20% of the effects, gives rise to an optimistic conclusion that we can act more efficiently and be more effective.

However, sometimes it is possible to make a gentle deviation from rule 20/80 in favour of 30/70, according to which 30% of our efforts bring 70% of the results.

• Regardless of percentage agreements, in efficient time management, it is most important to identify priorities that are likely to give us 70% or as much as 80% of the results.
• Given the Pareto rule, many companies base their sales strategy for customer segmentation; according to which those who generate 70-80% of turnover are operated by key customers..

Therefore, on the basis of the above information, we can probably assume that:

-          20% of customers give us approximately 80% of turnover (revenues),

-          20% of our customer-specific time outlays can give us as much as 80% of sales effects,

-          80% of our entire customer portfolio can only give us 20% of our revenue.

Efficient time management methods begin with all scheduled to do. The next step is to prioritize each one individually.

When I’ve been conducting training About the author,  a real challenge for me is numerous organizational issues. In order to be able to guide them effectively, it is necessary to plan and implement many important and less important issues related to the thematic programme  and many other logistical and organizational issues. This requires me, first of all, to prepare a program of training and presentation, design and print practical exercises, develop certificates and think carefully of each training module. On the other hand, just checking the media and any other teaching aids are the next challenges that I have to deal with quickly. It is also not uncommon to be involved in preparing the training room itself in order to be able to work in a good development-oriented atmosphere. There is also the question of planning the trip and making numerous phone calls with managers responsible for training purposes. If you have your own experience in organizing and conducting training, then you certainly know what I mean. In order to manage my time efficiently, I need to organize all activities effectively.

I start my work by writing out all the things that come to my mind. Then I take the notebook and save each one individually. It happens, and it is not uncommon that I supplement my plan with other tasks that I have forgotten about before. I sometimes feel like it will last for hours. However, this is not true. I spend about 20 to 30 minutes as much as possible, and I gain at least a few hundred. In this way, I prepare a sort of checking list, where I try to tick off those tasks that have already been done.

By the way, once time I have had the opportunity to observe how the pilot of a certain avionics controls all mandatory activities before it is ready to take off. Immediately before departure, he checked several times a list of all the actions he had to do. At that time, it was not possible to talk to him at all, because he was completely absorbed in preparing for departure. When I go on any trip, I act in a similar way. Before I leave the house, I check the prepared list step by step to see if I just forgot something. I can say that I have fallen into a certain sense in a routine, but I prefer to work in a planned and organized way, rather than completely chaotic.

How does this list work? I just control and organize the tasks, that I have to do. For example, once before going for some training, I had developed a list where taking of the suit had been written by me. Before leaving the house, I had checked that my suit  had been hanging in a cover on the hanger next to the exit door, which is why I had decided to tick off this action as done. I had marked this task as done at home, but not in the car. As you might think, however, it had  happened that the suit was in my apartment. I had just forgot to take it and had figured it out by driving on the highway. It had forced me to come back and catch up for tens of kilometres. The conclusion that then I had made was that I ought to check my list in the car and not in the apartment.

So how should we manage time in customer relationships? Our first step should be to list all tasks with the planned deadline for their execution. In turn, it is important to prioritize each planned action individually. The simple and very useful Pareto rule will be extremely helpful in this, which allows you to significantly increase your personal effectiveness to achieve a specific goal. The genesis of the Pareto principle dates back to 1897, when Italian economist and sociologist Vilfredo marquis Federico Damaso Pareto found that 20% of The Italian's population owns 80% of the country's assets. An increasing number of economic and economic developments have proved to be subject to 80/20. Similarly, twenty percent of our efforts bring as much as eighty percent of our efforts. Of course, approximately, as the proportions of numbers may be slightly different, but it is a visible disparity between effort and effect. The fact that 20% of the activity brings us as much as 80% of the results and 80% of the activity generates only 20% of the effects, gives rise to an optimistic conclusion that we can act more efficiently and be more effective.

However, sometimes it is possible to make a gentle deviation from rule 20/80 in favour of 30/70, according to which 30% of our efforts bring 70% of the results.

• Regardless of percentage agreements, in efficient time management, it is most important to identify priorities that are likely to give us 70% or as much as 80% of the results.
• Given the Pareto rule, many companies base their sales strategy for customer segmentation; according to which those who generate 70-80% of turnover are operated by key customers..

Therefore, on the basis of the above information, we can probably assume that:

• 20% of customers give us approximately 80% of turnover (revenues),
• 20% of our customer-specific time outlays can give us as much as 80% of sales effects,
• 80% of our entire customer portfolio can only give us 20% of our revenue.

Even taking into account the proportion that 30% of the outlay gives 70% of the results, you would have to admit that the results are impressive. Of course, these values may change depending on the specificity of the market in which we operate and a number of other factors, and above all the type of business. Dismay, for example, be taken from our private life. What percentage of wardrobe clothes make up the majority of your daily creation? My observations make it possible to draw conclusions that between 20 and 30% of our wardrobe is between 70 and 80% of everyday clothes. This rule works especially in women.

However, when we return to work on sale, we can use the above rule in planning activity with customers. Our work plan should start by writing out all the tasks and then prioritizing them. It may be helpful to use the ABC Model:

A.URGENT tasks that require urgent action are approaching the deadline. In the work of the trader, these may be priority actions with customers who give us the highest income, or expect such results in the future. As a rule, we cannot delegate these actions to others.

These actions should end with the order being completed!

B. IMPORTANT, but not urgent tasks and activities important, but not priority. You can outsource them to others. At the work of a trader, it can be, for example, inquiries without a specific time and validity.

C. Little important tasks, which you can postpone or without fear, delegate to another person (e.g. confirmation of conference room reservation, you can safely order a secretary, assistant, or even an apprentice or apprentice).

 The rest is the so-called. Time eaters

How do I use the ABC model in the daily work of a trader?

The key here is to start the day (any time) by writing out the most important tasks and activities scheduled for the day (week, month).

Knowing the Pareto principle, we know how important it is to determine what is important and what is not. It is a good idea to look closely at those activities that take a long time, but do not bring results. We should not pay too much attention to them. They can be shortened or simplified.

Table. Sample salesman's work plan

The ability to manage time on sale seems seemingly not very complicated. However, looking at how traders organize their time, I know that this task is difficult. Each of us has a different sense of priorities. For one seller, the execution of the offer will be an urgent task, for the other meeting with a new customer, and for the third all tasks will require sudden self-intervention.

Being still an inexperienced and, above all, a little assertive seller, once a time,  I had participated in some training with time management on sale. I remember the moment I had been asked by the trainer to write out all my activities with the clients I  had planned to do over the next week. When I had finished developing a work plan, I noticed with amazement that all tasks had had category A priority, which is urgent. Generally speaking in my working methods, I had been too customer-oriented, which had made it easier for me to get them. Nevertheless, then I had lacked assertiveness in certain areas, which had caused me to incorrectly establish priorities. After years of working on sales, I have only made sure that the essence of efficient time management is to pay the most attention to the tasks that can directly end in winning an order. So developing these skills allows us to work much more efficiently. Just looking at the planned activities just deeper gives us the opportunity to determine what is most urgent and the most important.

A similar categorization based on the ABC model can be done in relation to activities planned in work with customers (visits, phones, mailing actions), but also to the customers themselves. Categorization of customers is another technique that improves our work. We can start by printing a list of all existing customers of our products or services. Successively, on the basis of data on their sales revenue for a given period by product group, we categorize the debt of the respective categories: A,B,C.

From a sales efficiency point of view, it's important that we spend between 70 and 80% of our time with Category A customers.

Let's look at examples:

A Category customers

The most important customers who generate 70-80% of the revenue of the entire company or sales region. Most often there are about 20-30% of them throughout the portfolio, characterized by their loyalty and partnership in cooperation.

B Category customers

B Category Customers” are important, but their share of total revenue is not as great as for customers cat. A., however, over time they can claim to the most important customers.

C Category customers

The least important customers- the group whose share of the total revenue level is negligible - the value of all their transactions is an estimated figure of 20-30% of all sales revenue. They can also be new customers who are difficult to classify into a given group. In the case of regular customers, the sales dynamics of products may be declining. Very often they can be companies claiming and disloyal in cooperation.

We can categorize our customers based on the criteria I have presented above. In the first place, it is worth spending 70-80% of the time on category A customers. I personally recommend meeting at least once every two weeks or once a month. Of course, everything depends on the specifics of our industry, and above all on what our sales process looks like. It is also important to take into account that Category B customers can qualify for category A over time.

However, there is one area of work of traders that can consume too much time rather than bring the desired results. I mean preparing time-consuming offers. Very often we focus too much on this aspect of sales work. I myself am in favour of making the offer look as attractive visuals as possible. It is also worth to contain all properties in the form of bulleted advantages written in a very customer-readable language.

Preparing professional offers is also one of the training areas I have been conducting. By the way, most of the offers I have ever had in my life were only about prices, which certainly does not make the choice of customers more attractive. Nevertheless, I have noticed that a significant part of the so-called time-goers are the issues related to their preparation. Once in a heating company I had checked what percentage of offers had ended in direct order. It had been just a few percent. The offer department had never called most customers. Believe me that it is much more important than sending the offer is our direct contact, where we can highlight certain aspects in person and, above all, to know the needs of the buyer's website. Think about yourself, don't you spend too much time on it? In the technical industries, the process of calculating all the products appearing in the inquiries is so time-consuming that after preparing the offer, the potential trader no longer has time to contact any of the customers directly. Worst of all, by offering prices alone, we can automatically bring our conversations about topics only related to them, and not towards such important needs. And yet our task is to get the customer out of this way of thinking.

More information about sales time mangement you will find in book:"The art of selling in practice: practical training guidebook" was written by Krzysztof Czupryński 

Sales Power School® trainings are developing time mangement skills in practice way.