8 Secret Time-Wasters and How to Overcome Them

Written by Shelby Skrhak on Tuesday, November 29, 2011 11:10

There’s a reason we send Seeds of SUCCESS at 2 p.m., CT, and not first thing in the morning. We follow the mantra of time management: Tackle your most important or difficult task first thing in the morning. So if you’re reading this newsletter to avoid doing something else more important on your to-do list, we’re on to you.

“The most common time-waster is procrastination,” says author Paul J. Meyer. “People who are masters of time organization wear success blinders. They do not look to the left or the right.”

The most productive folks always look straight ahead to complete their most important tasks for the day and larger overreaching goals.
Productivity coach Cynthia Kersey highlights these procrastinating behaviors and offers ways to spur you into action:

Time-Wasters
Talking too long on the phone
Too frequently browsing social media sites
Incessantly preparing and not taking action
Failing to say no to unrelated tasks
Failing to ask for help or follow directions
Waiting until late in the day to do tasks
Having a disorganized office
Focusing on smaller, less important tasks

Action-Makers
Schedule phone calls with end times when possible
Set a time limit for non-task-related Internet browsing
Map or outline your most pressing task
Make a short daily to-do list and say no to tasks not on that list
Set deadlines and alarms for you to complete tasks
Close your Internet browser or unrelated windows to avoid distraction
Set your Chat status to “Busy” or go offline
Place your phone on “Do Not Disturb”

Make the Extra Effort to Acquire Sales Skills

Are you content to just “be in the game?” Or are you like the sports team that that ‘shows up’ every game? Those are the ones who usually win the championships! In your case, although you have competitors, your sole purpose is not to ‘beat’ them, but to carve out a decent living for yourself. However, there are good reasons to cultivate an attitude of excellence in what you do, including your sales efforts.

A winning athlete simply cannot afford to settle for mediocrity, and you shouldn’t either. How do these contestants become so good at what they do? They have even more than grit and determination – they make the extra effort to acquire the skills to excel at their game. With concentrated effort, YOU can attain the skills to be effective in sales.

Most people admire accomplished athletes who achieve success. What we often fail to understand is the effort they have put into it. They have worked long and hard to get to where they are. They have given careful attention to developing ability. With similar resolve, you can acquire sales skills. When you are ready and willing to put forth the effort, you can learn effective sales skills.

Here are some questions to consider if you want to be successful:
- Do you know exactly what you want to achieve (S.M.A.R.T. sales goals)?
- Do you know what it will take to achieve these goals?
- Are you willing to put in extra effort to achieve your goals?
- Do you read books or listen to tapes/CDs that will help you become better at sales?
- Do you attend workshops that will help you improve your skills?
- Do you practice or apply new information as you learn it?
- Are you applying what we talk about during one-on-one discussions?
- Are you persistent and do you refuse to give up?
- Do you experiment with new ideas?
- Do you evaluate your performance and progress regularly and make changes accordingly?

If you were unable to respond positively to all of these questions, you have now identified an action you can take that will help you achieve more. The trip to the ‘winner’s circle’ is not easy and we should never assume otherwise. Remember, anything worth getting is worth making the extra effort for. Isn’t fulfilling your dream worth the effort?


In summary, learn from the discipline and training, and the skills developed by winning athletes. Apply it to your sales efforts, and your business will attain a high degree of success. Go for the gold!

Use Questions to Uncover Needs

We have all been victims of sales people who were so intent on convincing us to buy their product that they completely failed to find out what we really wanted.  Many sales reps have not learned that the customer’s concerns are far more important than a list of reasons why people should buy, or perhaps the methods some so-called sales manager said he or she should use.

Developing good questioning skills is the primary way to have success in sales.  It’s simple; to find out what is important to your prospects, ASK THEM!  A recent study of top sales achievers uncovered this fact: Top salespeople listen more than talk on sales calls. They invest most of their time in the needs analysis stage, discussing buyer needs, wants and concerns.

It’s important to know what questions to ask.  Many people will just start probing; randomly asking whatever comes immediately to mind.  You can have some success winging it like this, but the real power of questioning happens when you are very focused with a plan or a flow of questions you want to ask.  This does not mean that you go the other extreme and ‘give them the third degree’.  It does mean that you should at least give some thought to the types of questions that are most likely to elicit information that will assist you to assess their needs.  Then you will be able to provide a real, practical solution that they will spend money on.

Here are some hypothetical examples.  In applying them in your business, it will be important to not use them verbatim, but to employ the ideas in a conversational style as you seek ways to help prospects:

- What is the single most important thing you want from a supplier?
- What is the one thing that keeps you awake at night?
- What can we do to make your life easier?
- If you were in my business, what would you offer customers like yourself that no one does?
- What is most critical to you in this project?
- Considering your needs, how would you describe the ideal supplier?
- What would you like to be able to do tomorrow that you cannot do today?

You'll notice that the focus of these questions is on the customer. None are trial closes like: If we did this would you be interested? They are designed to help the customer express where they need the most help.  Effective questions require the customer to think. They foster involvement. They encourage the other person to share more information and become more involved in the sales process. 

Demonstrate your expertise by asking effective questions.

"A Place for Everything and Everything in its Place"

That enduring reminder often aimed at kids -- "a place for everything and everything in its place" -- can also find a target in the lives of plenty of adults, business training coach Kimberly Medlock believes.
And practicing that time-honored adage can make a big difference for small-business owners who frequently find their days filled with more tasks to complete than time allows, Medlock said recently.
Medlock said the first step is realizing that perfect organizational systems don't exist. So, instead of waiting for one to be invented, dive in and start taking care of business now.
"The busier you are, the more organized you have to be," Medlock said. "There's not enough time to do everything, so decide what's important to your business and find a system that works for you."
Steps include making "to do" lists every day (toss out the old ones and start fresh every morning), clearing clutter from work stations (piles of papers signal postponed decisions) and turning off those pesky mail alerts.
"What if you got ten pieces of mail every day and the postman delivered them to you one piece at a time? Think how disruptive that would be to your efficiency and productivity," Medlock said. "Most of the time, just because you get an e-mail, it doesn't mean that you have to acknowledge it right away. It's the same with the phone. It's OK to let voice mail pick up if you're busy working on something else."
Taking time to plan and organize each day's actions should be first on the agenda for every small-business owner.
"If you're not focused on the most important things, then it's easy to get bogged down by minor issues".
You may want to consider engaging the services of a professional organizer. The stress relief, and cost savings in personal productivity often more than compensate for the minimal financial investment.