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SALES MEETING TOOL KIT: BETTER TIME MANAGEMENT |
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 Better Time Management, Introduction Component 1: Facilitator Talking Points Component 2: Better Time Management Agenda Component 3: Handout 1, Time Log Component 4: Handout 2, Tips for Better Time Management Component 5: Activity 1, Setting Your Priorities Ratings Scale Component 6: Activity 2, Setting Priorities Response Sheet Component 7: Handout 3, Tips for Using Scraps of Time Component 8: Activity 2, Suggestions for More Efficient Ways Component 9: Handout 4, Time Management for the Time Challenged Component 10: Activity 3, Avoiding Interruptions Component 11: Activity 3, Suggested Answers for Avoiding Interruptions Component 12: Other Resources |
Component 1: Facilitator Talking Points These notes will guide you and your salespeople through a discussion and activities designed to help improve time management skills and enhance productivity. Pre-meeting preparation Before the meeting
Print the following: 1. These facilitator talking points—Component 1 2. Better Time Management Agenda—Component 2 3. Handout 1: Time Log—Component 3 4. Handout 2: Tips for Better Time Management—Component 4 5. Activity 1: Setting Your Priorities Rating Scales—Component 5 6. Activity 1 Setting Priorities Response Sheet—Component 6 7. Handout 3: Tips for Using Scrap Time—Component 7 8. Activity 2: Suggestions for More Efficient Ways—Component 8 9. Handout 4: Time Management for the Time Challenged—Component 9 10. Activity 3: Avoiding Interruptions—Component 10 11. Activity 3: Suggested Answers for Avoiding Interruptions— Component 11 12. Other Resources Welcome (1-2 minutes) Ask participants if they have ever lost a listing or a sale because poor time management caused them to be inadequately prepared. Ask how they changed their time management processes after this event. Background and objectives and goals (2 min.) The top producer and the also-ran both have the same 24 hours in a day. Only by improving your productivity can you accomplish more work without working more hours. In this meeting, we will:
Handout 2: Tips for Better Time Management (5 min.) Read the time management tips on Handout 2 (Component 4). Ask participants to give an example of how one of the tips could be applied to real estate sales activities. Encourage participants to share other time management tips with the group. Activity 1: Setting Your Priorities (15 min.) Remind participants that good time management is based on the idea of doing the most important task first. The most important task isn’t what is easiest, or what you feel like doing, but what will help you achieve your long-term goals. Use this exercise to help participants prioritize their activities based on the degree that that activity helps them achieve a goal. Before they can set their priorities, participants must develop a consistent system of ratings. Review the Setting Priorities Rating Scales (Component 5). The example shows a four-point rating system, with 1 being “Urgent,” the highest priority, and “Of Limited Value,” the lowest priority. Another option is an A,B,C ranking. First ask participants how they would define each of the four categories. For example, are only tasks with an outside deadline of today “urgent,” or should “urgent” be anything that is critical to do that day, such as making prospecting calls? Then ask them to suggest some typical real estate activities that might be ranked under each of the categories. Next, ask participants to take out the Time Log (Handout 1) that they have completed during the preceding week. Ask them to write two of their personal long-term career goals in the open space at the top of their forms. Next, ask participants to prioritize each of their weekly activities on the degree it directly contributes to achieving their goals. Select the goals of one or two participants and ask the group to contribute other activities that would work directly toward that goal. Write the answers on a flip chart. Use the Suggested Responses to Priorities (Component 6) to help suggest priority activities for some common real estate goals. Handout 3: Tips for Using Scraps of Time—Component 7 (5 min.) Point out to participants that if they earn $60,000 a year, adding an extra hour of productive time a week, they would earn an extra $1,200 year. One way to increase productivity is to reclaim the lost scraps of time we currently waste—opening mail, waiting on hold, sitting in traffic, waiting to pick up the kids at school. Review the list of ideas for making more productive use of short periods of down time. Ask participants if they have other suggestions for places to find scraps of time or tasks to productively use these found moments. Activity 2: Looking for A More Efficient Way—Component 8 Ask participants to again bring out their time logs of last week’s work. Have participants look at the tasks they performed and suggests items that they could delegate to someone else, perform in some of the small scraps of time they have each week, or eliminate as unnecessary. In addition, ask participants to look for tasks that could be automated to reduce the time needed to perform them. Ask one or two participants to share their lists and ask the group to make suggestions on other efficiencies they see. Use the Suggestions for More Efficient Ways (Component 8) to suggest some possible efficiencies to respondents. To impress participants with the value of increased efficiency, ask them to add up the time they would save if they adopted all the efficiencies they found. Handout 4: Time Management for the Time Challenged—Component 9 Ask how many participants have tried a time management system similar to the one used in Activities 1 and 2, but found it unhelpful. Remind participants that although the time log-priority list is a well-established time management staple, it is not the only way. Review these contrarian time management tips from author Ann McGee-Cooper. Activity 3: Avoiding Interruptions—Component 10 Use these scenarios to help participants learn successful techniques to avoid time wasters. Ask one participant to read each scenario and suggest what could be done to tactfully avoid this interruption. Use the Responses to Avoiding Interruptions (Component 11) to prompt the discussion. Adjourn. Thank participants for their time. Component 2: Facilitator Talking Points |