{"id":1761,"date":"2008-10-23T08:04:09","date_gmt":"2008-10-23T13:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/10\/prep-vs-admin-time\/"},"modified":"2008-10-23T06:35:23","modified_gmt":"2008-10-23T11:35:23","slug":"prep-vs-admin-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/10\/prep-vs-admin-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Prep vs. Admin Time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Oh does this Selling Power article hit close to home &#8211; <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sellingpower.com\/html_newsletter\/article.asp?usr=SP9477331254&amp;NLid=1&amp;Layout_ID=817&amp;ARTid=3656&amp;nDate=October+20%2C+2008\">In 2009, Increase Sales Prep Time<\/a>.\u00a0 I have seen numerous companies place onerous admin tasks on their salespeople to the point where there is a real loss in revenue.\u00a0 Inefficiency is the main culprit, but department structure, sales tools and antiquated technology are typically the pieces of the inefficiency.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the pull quote from the article:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Prep Time:<\/strong> The number one complaint among tech buyers is that sales reps are coming in unprepared. They don&#8217;t know the account, don&#8217;t have an agenda, and do not have good product knowledge. To combat this problem and move more sales beyond that initial call, prep time &#8220;needs to expand,&#8221; says Vancil. &#8220;It&#8217;s 20 percent now; it should be as much as 45 percent.&#8221; That&#8217;s right \u2013 all the time you gain from reducing admin time should be shifted into sales prep, not customer-facing time. That way, the time your reps do spend with customers will be far more effective than it is now. One note of caution: don&#8217;t simply give your reps more planning time and expect miracles. Coach them on good call planning procedures if you want to see results.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>We have seen this development over the past few years and it is continuing to expand.\u00a0 &#8220;Buyers&#8221; (don&#8217;t like that term) are stretched thin these days due to the productivity expectations of most companies.\u00a0 I&#8217;ve said this before, the days of starting a call with &#8220;What does your company do?&#8221; are gone.\u00a0 Call prep is key.<\/p>\n<p>Prospects and customers expect salespeople to bring value.\u00a0 That expectation cannot be strategically met without knowing some of the basics of the prospect&#8217;s business &#8211; their company, their market, their competition, etc.\u00a0 This knowledge is money to a salesperson.\u00a0 Administrative tasks, though necessary, should be limited as much as possible to reallocate that time to revenue-generating time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oh does this Selling Power article hit close to home &#8211; In 2009, Increase Sales Prep Time.\u00a0 I have seen numerous companies place onerous admin tasks on their salespeople to the point where there is a real loss in revenue.\u00a0 Inefficiency is the main culprit, but department structure, sales tools and antiquated technology are typically the pieces of the inefficiency. Here&#8217;s the pull quote from the article: Prep Time: The number one complaint among tech buyers is that sales reps are coming in unprepared. They don&#8217;t know the account, don&#8217;t have an agenda, and do not have good product knowledge. To combat this problem and move more sales beyond that&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/10\/prep-vs-admin-time\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,9],"tags":[1057,1056,1053,1054,1055],"class_list":["post-1761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sales-management","category-sales-techniques","tag-call-prep","tag-sale-prep","tag-sales-efficiency","tag-sales-task","tag-sales-time"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-sp","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2020,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/05\/preparation-vs-execution\/","url_meta":{"origin":1761,"position":0},"title":"Preparation vs. Execution","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"May 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"SellingPower.com\u2019s article - Help for Your Pre-Call Prep \u2013 makes a bold statement in the opening sentence: When you get right down to it, sales are won or lost on preparation. I would argue that sales are won or lost on execution.\u00a0 Give me a salesperson who executes flawlessly any\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Techniques&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Techniques","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-techniques\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/05\/interview-tips-part-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":1761,"position":1},"title":"Interview Tips &#8211; Part 3","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"May 16, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The online training of candidates continues. This time, monster.com offers up Interview Prep Tips which provides a general overview of strategy for a successful interview (from the candidate's side). If you follow the link for Closing the Interview you will end up here. This complementary article is excellent advice for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1817,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/12\/pre-call-prep\/","url_meta":{"origin":1761,"position":2},"title":"Pre-Call Prep","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"December 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I have been in sales since 1992 and have seen the marketplace change in drastic ways.\u00a0 Today, we are in the midst of the information age where knowledge is king.\u00a0 Preparedness is a necessity for successful selling.\u00a0 In all honesty, this trait has never been one of my strengths.\u00a0 However,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Techniques&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Techniques","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-techniques\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/05\/more-from-monstercom-interview-cheat-sheet\/","url_meta":{"origin":1761,"position":3},"title":"More from monster.com &#8211; Interview Cheat Sheet","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"May 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"A cheat sheet from monster.com that is fairly comprehensive. These tips and prep questions are all excellent from the candidate side of the equation. These items become more troublesome when hiring salespeople. Even bad salespeople have some rapport-building ability that they incorporate into the interview process. There isn't a hiring\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Candidates&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Candidates","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/sales\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":614,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/01\/job-offer-etiquette\/","url_meta":{"origin":1761,"position":4},"title":"Job Offer Etiquette","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"January 30, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Call first, email second. There is no other way to do it safely. This BusinessWeek.com article - Hiring Companies Should Show the Love - got me thinking about this topic. The article is written to the candidate's perspective, but it holds good advice for hiring companies too. For starters, if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/05\/interview-questions\/","url_meta":{"origin":1761,"position":5},"title":"Interview Questions","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"May 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Monster.com continues their interview prep series with Interview Questions, Part 4 (I wonder when it will end?). I think most people who hire have an affinity for interview questions. There is one question that we use extensively: What is your management style? Intent: This is a classic question for management-level\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1761\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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