1. Work Smart: Time Management Tips for Sales Professionals
Presenter:
Stephanie Sperry – Senior Marketing Manager,
Merchant Warehouse

2. About Merchant Warehouse
Established in 1998
Based in Boston, MA
Over 80,000 active merchants
200+ employees
Award winning:
Three-time recipient of the Boston Business Journal Pacesetter Award
100 Best’s 2010 Merchant Account Provider of the Year
First ISO to receive - ETA ISO of the Year

3. Talking Points Barriers that keep you from managing time effectively
What’s Important versus what’s urgent
Prioritizing and setting goals to keep the sales funnel flowing
Using software and planners
Tackling daily activities with a systematic approach

4. Common Barriers Inability to say ‘no’ Interruptions
Stress/ Feeling overwhelmed
Procrastination
Lack of prioritizing
Spending too much time talking
Doing what we ‘like’ to do before what we ‘need’ to do
important to prioritize projects that could easily pile up and leave you scrambling at the last minute.

5. Overcoming barriers Learn to say no! Reduce Interruptions
If you can’t – set realistic expectations
Reduce Interruptions
Limit social time to breaks
Set up a separate working space
Check at intervals throughout the day
If an is urgent, flag it for when your done with your current task
Don’t get overwhelmed
Take breaks
Practice some stress relieving activities
Create a priority list
Create a list over a course of few days, not just one master

6. Sample list Urgent: Important: Next week: Finish presentation
Get ipads shipped out
Order promo items
Important:
Plan ad schedule
Figure out budget
Newsletter
Next week:
Work with intern on conference
Focus on Saleforce initiatives

7. Overcoming barriers Avoid procrastination Prioritize
Set goals and deadlines
Do a little at a time
Prioritize
Put things into buckets, create lists
Talk less, think more
Is this prospect worth trying to sell for two hours?
What ROI am I really going to get out of this?
Remember you wear many hats
Don’t just focus on what you like to do
Focus on growing your business and learning about all aspects of growing a business

8. Important versus Urgent

9. What’s important versus urgent
Urgent: Time sensitive or ‘putting out fire’ problems
Dealing with a customer issue
Getting a merchant account set up
Meeting with a customer
Important: Revolve around strategy and planning
Checking in with customers – Customer relations
Managing your finances
Marketing your business
Getting referrals
Prospecting
Education
Taking a vacation

10. Managing the urgent Delegate Get things down on paper
Get Sally’s terminal programmed!
Delegate
Get things down on paper
Stop, Think, Act:
Stop for a second to make sure it’s urgent
Think about the source – rank it’s urgency
Then act quickly without dwelling too long on it
If you’re in the middle of an ‘important project’ - Use sticky notes to remind yourself of an issue you need to resolve that day

11. Managing the important
Schedule time each day for the important activities
Prioritize – Write things down
Keep a list by day and by week
Set weekly goals on what important tasks you want to complete
Use tools to set reminders
Don’t forget to take time for yourself
Figure out what’s important and focus on that!

12. Prioritizing and setting goals
Think about your ROI – What’s going to give you a return on the time you put into something?
Option 1 – Spend all day on a postcard campaign
Option 2 – Spending your day getting referrals and visiting customers
Set aside time each day to:
Call prospects and customers
Focus on important activities such as:
Marketing
Processing paper
Mining new sales opportunities
Preventing attrition

13. Prioritizing and setting goals
Setting sales goals:
Set daily, weekly monthly goals and keep track of your accomplishments
Reward yourself for meeting goals
Setting other goals:
I’ll attend 2 trainings every week
I will get xx referrals this month

14. Some Tips from a Successful Agent
Set aside time for:
Learning the business
Making appointments
Admin work – service calls, app process, follow up and deployment
Marketing and short and long term planning – Network, branch out
Practice closing techniques to minimize the sales process
Think about partnering with someone that will compliment your abilities

15. Some Tips from a Successful Agent
Don’t forget to pay attention to taxes
Have some short term goals like writing 10 accounts each month, 100 in a year.
Be patient: Residual income is magical, but it takes time to grow
Be comfortable with making mistakes and learning from them as you go
Consider hiring help – cold calling

16. Using software and planners
CRM – Salesforce (contact manager - $5/month)
Microsoft Office (including outlook - $200)
Quickbooks ($140)
Daily planner – 5 day planner
Sticky notes

17. Tackling daily activities
Use a CRM system to set reminders for prospect calls and customer calls
Every xx month for a current customer
Every xx week for a prospect until they become a dead lead
Have a task list in outlook to manage important tasks
Use reminders or sticky notes for URGENT matters

18. Agent & ISO Program Benefits
The security of a financially sound ISO
Generous bonuses and benefits
Uniquely fair agent contract
Innovative technology
In-house/dedicated customer and technical support
Guaranteed lifetime residuals
Marketing support
In-depth sales training
Online tools and resources
Coming soon – Cost analysis tool and CB App Express!

19. Questions?
For questions regarding this presentation, please contact Stephanie If you are interested in becoming an independent sales agent for Merchant Warehouse, please contact Doug x 2535 or