Prialto Post isn’t the only place you’ll read about the virtues of delegation. Everyone from Richard Branson to Tim Ferriss has been talking about how learning to delegate work that isn’t in your sweet spot is a key life skill. And you, yourself, of course would probably love to get some work off your plate.
But when you’re the one who’s been hired to do the work, sub-contracting it out to someone else can induce its fair share of guilt. How do you justify handing things off from your plate to someone else?
It’s really quite simple. The work you hand off to someone else should be the tasks that are not your core competency. Never delegate things that are your strengths. Instead, focus on handing off tasks that are incidental to your work and don’t involve the skills for which you were hired. That’ll give you more time and energy to complete your high value work.
For sales reps, this admin work could include any of the following.
1. Booking a lunch meeting
That includes both calling the restaurant for a reservation and circling back with your contact to finalize the details. Scheduling meetings can take significant amounts of email ping-pong, which is perfect to outsource to someone else.
2. Building your expense report
Filling out forms and databases is not on top of the list in terms of sales process. Some of you might be getting this done because it puts money back in your pocket. More likely, though, is that the pain of doing this yourself outweighs the benefits.
3. Updating your CRM activities
This is a typical, rote task that anyone with context and access to your CRM and calendar can do for you.
4. Confirming the next day’s meetings
Getting this done can literally save you both time and make you some money. By ensuring that you’re not spinning your wheels waiting for a no-show in a diner, delegating this will give you more time back to sell.
5. Answering your calls
These days, phone calls are the most disruptive form of communication out there. But forcing prospects to leave a voicemail message doesn’t inspire confidence, either. So get someone to make your prospects love your sales process from the start, without taking time out of your own schedule.
6. Doing your prospect homework
Give them a name and a title, and someone else can compile a short briefing note with industry numbers, deal size, etc. for you before sales meetings. Instead of searching the depths of the web, save your energy for building that business relationship.
7. Keeping your CRM clean
Fussing over CRM fields and up-to-date addresses is helpful, but not central to closing the deal. Sure, everyone should keep best practices in mind, but it’s worth it to outsource data cleansing to someone else. It’ll make sure the sales managers are happy and that you’re working off the right data.
8. Finding prospects online
With a few parameters in place, someone else can help find you mine social media and other databases to come up with a list of qualified candidates for your sale. That’ll both save you time and give you something new to leverage.
9. Providing context for your expense receipts
Coming back from a business trip with an envelope full of meal/cab receipts? Anyone with access to your calendar should be able to match those up with the right account numbers and names for your expense reimbursement. Your time is better spent making the follow up calls.
10. Rescheduling your flight
You may be picky about what airline you fly or what seat you get. But when your meeting runs late and you still need to make it back home tonight, you should grab whoever you can to anticipate and make that change for you. It’ll let you take the time to finish up your meeting and arrive at the airport without worries.
Source: B2C_Business
10 Tasks Every Sales Reps Should Delegate Today
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