Adopt These 7 Sales Hacks to Maximize Your Selling Time

Did you know that only 35% of a sales rep’s time is spent actually selling? This can be incredibly frustrating for managers and sales reps alike.

To remain successful, sales teamssa have to become experts at not only managing their time but maximizing it.

In this blog post, we’ll give you seven “sales hacks” that you and your sales team can use to maximize your selling time. These hacks aren’t cheap tricks but practical strategies that can make a real difference in how much time you spend actually selling.

1. Use a standardized sales process

Having a standardized sales process is one of the most important sales hacks for increasing your selling time.

With clear steps and a well-defined path, sales reps won’t have to spend time debating which steps to take next and can more quickly move prospects from stage to stage.

You’ll also save time by ensuring consistency in your approach. With a standard process, it’s easier to track progress and identify areas for improvement. Through trial and error, you can determine the most efficient process and continually improve it as you go.

2. Identify your ideal customer

Not every prospect is going to be your company’s ideal customer, and spending time on those who aren’t a good fit ultimately results in wasted time.

To avoid spending time on leads who won’t convert, identify your ideal customer and define their characteristics. Then, evaluate leads to determine how closely they fit your ideal customer profile.

You can then use this information to prioritize your leads, optimizing how you spend your time.

3. Simplify your CRM data

As a sales manager, look for ways to streamline the amount of data you require your reps to enter in their CRM. It is tempting to want to track every single piece of information about your sales reps’ deals, but the reality is that will only steal valuable time from your salespeople. Excessive data entry bogs down your team and takes time away from actively selling.

4. Automate as many activities as you can

Today’s technology makes it possible to automate many of the non-selling activities your team needs to complete.

With a CRM like Nutshell, you can automatically assign leads to reps, move leads between stages, send emails, and gather data. 

CRM integrations can add even more automation options to your sales process.

For example, if you use a separate tool to create proposals to send to clients, make sure you are leveraging an integration to automatically pull data from your CRM into your proposal. (Hint: The PandaDoc Nutshell integration makes this super easy.) Automating this task means reduced errors and high-quality proposals that will save you countless hours over time.

Related: The 5 must-have elements of a killer sales proposal

5. Utilize prospecting tools

Gathering data about your prospects can help make your sales process more efficient because it enables you to reach out to your prospects with the right information. When you’ve thoroughly researched your prospects, you better understand their needs and goals and how your products or services can help them.

You can save time in the prospecting process by using the right tools. Many prospecting tools can automatically pull in information about contacts or help you find prospects that fit your ideal customer profile.

VisitorIQ (a feature of PeopleIQ) for example, can identify your website visitors and let you unlock information about them that you can use to determine whether they’re a good fit for your business.

6. Make content easier to find

Content created by marketing teams can be valuable in helping sales teams provide information to prospects. If sales teams can’t quickly find the content they need, however, they end up losing time and potential opportunities.

Instead of sales reps losing time by searching for content, leverage a smart folder structure that encourages discoverability. Also, if your company uses Slack, create a dedicated content channel and share assets there.

7. Avoid the back-and-forth scheduling

There are many tools on the market these days that allow you or your sales reps to schedule meetings by sharing a link to your calendar instead of sending multiple emails or messages checking each other’s availability and suggesting a time to meet. It is a huge time suck that is easily avoidable.

With Nutshell Scheduler, for example, you can easily schedule and manage your meetings right in your CRM. Scheduler even automatically tracks your meetings in Nutshell and captures contact information.

Get more from your selling time

Whether you are a team of one or 20, it is always smart to dedicate time and energy to improving your sales operations and sales enablement functions. You’ll be able to dramatically reduce the time spent on “busy” work, so you or your team will have more time to sell.

To learn more time-saving tips, download PandaDoc’s latest eBook “Leveraging Technology to Maximize Sales Activities: How to Get the Most Out of Your Time in the Field and in the Office” today.

Want to leverage pipeline management, sales automation, and other capabilities to maximize your selling time? Give Nutshell a try. Our easy-to-use CRM has the features you need to boost your sales team’s efficiency and productivity. Start a free 14-day trial to learn more.

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Bethany Fagan is the Partner Marketing Manager at PandaDoc. When she’s not promoting one of our integrations or amazing partners, her time is spent exploring her new Brooklyn neighborhood with her husband and two French Bulldogs, Tater Tot and Pork Chop.

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