recent survey, most salespeople spend their day doing everything but selling. The study indicates that sales professionals spend only 10 percent of their available time actually selling. The data, from Proudfoot Consulting’s annual sales force effectiveness study, also show a disconnect between how salespeople think they are spending their time and whatis actually happening. Despite the growing investments that companies are making in sales training and technology, active selling time has not increased over the past year. In fact, time spent on administrative duties has grown by four points compared to last year’s study. Moreover, many salespeople seem unaware of the problem. Salespeople in the study said they spend 50 percent of their time actively selling, yet in reality, most of their day is spent on paperwork, travel and problem solving for customers: * Active selling —10 percent Prospecting—10 percent Problem Solving—14 percent Downtime (including personal phone calls and e-mails)—17 percent * Travel time—18 percent Administration—31 percent. “Salespeople are being pulled in too manydirections,” said Luiz Carvalho, chief executive officer, Proudfoot Consulting. “Companies need to take a long, hard look at how muchtimetheir salespeople are wasting on tasks that should be done by other people or eliminated.” The relatively low amount of time that salespeople spend actually selling is significant Traveling time Problem solving Administration Most salespeople report that their day is filled with paperwork and problem solving—not selling. because of how strongly their compensation—and their company’s revenue projections—is tied to performance. “When you think about how critical sales performance is to a company’s top line, it is shocking howlittle time sales reps spend on what they were hired to do —sell,” said Carvalho. The study also looked at how effective salespeople are in eight key selling skills. The biggest barriers to salespeople’s effectiveness werefoundto be: *Lack of manager feedback or help for sales teams *Poor sales call quality and inadequate monitoring Weak or cumbersomesalesreporting systems *Training that was seldom reinforced or properly coached in the field. Proudfoot Consulting is one of the world’s leading and longestestablished providers of management consultancy services. To learn more, visit the Web site at www. proudfootconsulting.com.
