Our featured author today is Manny Alamwala, Business Development Associate at Vision Critical. He joins us for the latest in our Inside Sales Practioner Series.
As an SDR, I’ve become more aware of the reality behind the saying “time is money.” Not being time-wise leads to fewer meetings booked, fewer opps generated, lower income, and (at worst) being moved out of the role.
I've observed that high achievers are disciplined with their time and focus on what's most important at any given moment. They know what they have to do and when they have to do it before they start their days.
Recently, I went to a bookstore to find a journal to help me focus. As I looked at the different types available, I came up with an idea of a role-specific journal to be used for inside sales. At the heart of it, all inside sales professionals are doing the same type of tasks: research, prospecting, calling, emailing, social media, qualifying, etc.
My spin on an Inside Sales Journal
An SDR would take 5 minutes at the start and end of each day to set goals and track results. Here's what one page (one day) would look like:
Inspiring Quote – Sales can be tough, emotionally. Starting the day off with a quote puts us in the right frame of mind.
Weekly Challenge – Challenges chosen by leaders in the industry to help the SDR grow in professional life.
Most Important Task of the Day – Humans are terrible multi-taskers. Writing down one major task for the day will hold us accountable and put it in our subconscious throughout the day. Over time, achieving that one major task every day will put the SDR on top of the leaderboard.
People I Need to Contact Today (no matter what) – This is the primary reason for the SDR role, to book meetings with the right people. Writing down their names, will keep us focused on who we can’t let slip through the cracks.
Call Counter – This is a psychological motivator to achieve activities. Making calls can be hard, especially for new SDRs. Gamifying the process by coloring in the circles every time a call is made and using different colors for rejections or connections is a fun way to achieve activity goals and see results add up.
Time Blocks – Build the day before it begins and be disciplined with time.
Results Tracker – Sales is a numbers game. You can’t improve what you don’t track.
What Went Well Today? - There are days it feels like nothing is going right. Leaving the office on that note can hurt confidence and motivation. There’s always a silver lining to every day, even the worst of them. Taking the time to think about the good and writing it down will keep the SDR in a positive frame of mind to start fresh the next day.
What Could I Have Done Better Today? - Reflection is necessary part of growth. Small, incremental improvements every day will result in high achiever performance in the long run.
Seeing results from a journal
This type of Inside Sales Journal can help reps reduce stress, be more focused and productive, and think clearer. Reps could share pages with their managers during one-on-ones. Often, the numbers we see in Salesforce don’t represent what’s happening on a deeper level.
What do you think?
In the comments below, please let me know your thoughts. Could this help SDRs day-to-day? Would you add anything? Remove something? Would this be helpful as a leader in your one-on-one meetings with your reps?
UPDATE: The Sales Journal site is now live.