Early in my career, I failed quite miserably because I didn’t know how to structure my days to get the right results. Instead, I started working longer and harder, which—if you know my story—didn’t end on a high note.
After my all-inclusive 30-day hospital visit fighting for my life, I realized a sustainable schedule didn’t exist. In Sales, it was either feast or famine. That didn’t sit well with me since I saw parents, people with extreme hobbies, and even people who left work early who were consistently putting great numbers on the board without dedicating their lives to their jobs.
The difference between them and the rest was almost unbelievable: they set limits. They purposely restricted their time, energy, or output to measure the impact: Did it work the way they thought it would? Do they need more or less time? Should they get help?
They broke their days into four core themes:
- How do they generate demand?
- How do they run their prospect experience?
- How do they manage their pipeline?
- How do they manage their book for retention and growth?
The other big surprise is that they worked backwards. New business and prospects weren’t as important as existing business. They would drop everything for a paying customer, but not prospects. They structured their days the same way: Account management, pipeline management, prospecting, and marketing.
This is how I started, but it soon evolved with buyer preferences to fully leverage the tactics and tools I was using. I moved prospecting to the start so that I could “plant my seeds” quickly using asynchronous outreach: Commenting on influencer posts, posting my own content, doing my strategic outreach. This allowed time for those seeds to grow while I was working on client delivery, then pipeline management. At the end of the day, I would circle back to check on my prospecting efforts to see what bore fruit.
I realized that time could be an asset for growth and productivity.
Here are the three base schedules I currently have in rotation with the specific reasons I use them vs. the others:
Full Workday Schedule 8am-3pm
This is my standard work schedule that gives me more flexibility with my work/life balance. I highly recommend adding in 30-60 minutes of exercise as well.
8:00am-8:30am: Preparation Time
- Go over the day's plan
- Review priorities
- Prepare for meetings and tasks
8:30am-10:00am: Prospecting
- Combine market development with sales development
- Work in order of priority:
1. Champions
2. RIA
3. Icebreaker
4. Market development (for new reps; optional)
10:00am-10:30am: Short Break
10:30am-1:00pm: Pipeline Management
Focus on the deals and accounts, working in order of priority:
- Implementation/realization (completed deals in their first 90 days)
- Commit (deals past the proposal stage)
- Mobilize (new opportunities, discovery/demo)
Use any remaining time for:
- Account management
- Prospecting meetings with director or higher seniority
- Referral earning and account growth opportunities
1:00pm-1:30pm: Lunch Break
1:30pm-2:30pm: Administrative & Urgent Tasks
- Handle any administrative tasks
- Address any urgent tasks that popped up throughout the day
- Work on creating assets
2:30pm-3pm: Reflection & Planning
- Reflect on the day's work, noting successes and areas for improvement
- Plan for the next day or the week ahead, ensuring priorities are clear
Long Workday Schedule 8am-6pm
This is a great schedule to use if you want to take time off and need to put in extra time before or after to make sure you stay on track
8:00am-9:00am: Preparation Time
- Go over the day's plan
- Review priorities
- Prepare for meetings and tasks
9:00am-11:00am: Prospecting
- Combine market development with sales development
- Work in order of priority:
1. Champions
2. RIA
3. Icebreaker
4. Market development (for new reps; optional)
11:00am-12:00pm: Lunch Break
12:00pm-4:00pm: Pipeline Management
Focus on the deals and accounts, working in order of priority:
- Implementation/realization (completed deals in their first 90 days)
- Commit (deals past the proposal stage)
- Mobilize (new opportunities, discovery/demo)
Use any remaining time for:
- Account management
- Prospecting meetings with director or higher seniority
- Referral earning and account growth opportunities
4:00pm-5:00pm: Administrative & Urgent Tasks
- Handle any administrative tasks
- Address any urgent tasks that popped up throughout the day
- Work on creating assets
5:00pm-6:00pm: Reflection & Planning
- Reflect on the day's work, noting successes and areas for improvement
- Plan for the next day or the week ahead, ensuring priorities are clear
Half Workday Schedule 8am-1pm
This is a bit longer than the standard half day, but I find the extra time allows me to get everything done so I don’t bring work home with me.
8:00am-8:30am: Preparation Time
- Go over the day's plan
- Review priorities
- Prepare for meetings and tasks
8:30am-10:00am: Prospecting
- Combine market development with sales development
- Work in order of priority:
1. Champions
2. RIA
3. Icebreaker
4. Market development (for new reps; optional)
10:00am-11:00am: Pipeline Management
Focus on the deals and accounts, working in order of priority:
- Implementation/realization (completed deals in their first 90 days)
- Commit (deals past the proposal stage)
- Mobilize (new opportunities, discovery/demo)
11:00am-11:30am: Administrative & Urgent Tasks
- Handle any administrative tasks
- Address any urgent tasks that popped up
11:30am-12:00pm: Break / Snack Time
12:00pm-1:00pm: Reflection, Planning & Additional Prospecting
- Reflect on the morning's work
- Plan for the next day or week
- If any time remains, use it for additional prospecting or catching up on any missed tasks
I use these schedules as a template that I move around based on my priorities and life's curveballs. I started creating rules for making changes and started scheduling time for planning and reflection to create opportunities for improvement. This meant that prospects could only schedule in the time blocks I allotted, which were typically afternoons on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The schedule is flexible up until the day before in which I lock it in before I finish work for the day.
If you want to dive deeper into creating your rules based on your value, read Indistractable by Nir Eyal.
If you want to go even further into productivity through time management, read Get Things Done or Deep Work by Cal Newport.
