Sales teams rarely struggle because they are sitting around doing nothing.
They struggle because they are doing too many things at once. They stay busy with work that feels productive and seems like a good use of time, but upon reflection, does not create revenue.
That is an important distinction.
In many sales environments, low-value work hides behind good intentions. It can look like helpfulness, responsiveness, involvement, organization, or just being busy. None of those things are bad or outside the role. But when they become the role, they quickly turn into expensive distractions.
Extreme or constant customer service is a great example. Being responsive matters, but when salespeople become the default problem solver for every client issue, they slowly drift from sales into service. The challenge is that many organizations will praise that behavior and call it “customer-first,” yet act surprised when new opportunities stop being created, advanced, or closed.
That same internal pressure can also pull salespeople into multiple internal groups or committees. Planning events, lunches, or internal initiatives. They become highly available internally while slowly becoming less available to customers and prospects.
Then there is the administrative side. Building reports, spending hours updating the CRM, creating sales materials from scratch, and constantly researching prospects without ever reaching out. All of these look legitimate until you consider how much prime selling time they consume.
Sales leaders need to be honest.
The highest-value sales activities are simple: create, advance, and close.
That is the job.
We all understand that not every minute of every day can be spent on those activities. Some of the work above does need to happen. But it cannot own the calendar. It should support the real work, not replace it. Ideally, it happens after the hard work of creating, advancing, and closing is already done.
Salespeople need to take ownership of their calendars, and leaders need to take ownership of their teams. On larger teams, sales admin support can make a big difference. On smaller teams, better time management and compensation plans that reward the right activities become critical.
Doing more does not automatically mean selling more.
But a tighter focus and better execution usually do.
The tighter the focus, the more consistent the execution.
And the more we sell.
Cheers,
Kyle Jager
