January is a time for goal-setting, prioritizing tasks, and envisioning a better future. If you’re in a leadership position on a sales team, this time of year might cause a bit of overwhelm. Now that you’ve seen all the initiatives planned for the year by the executives, you may worry that you don’t have the staff capacity to hit your sales goals.
But remember that these goals are worthy of pursuit. They will not only benefit your bottom line, but better the lives of both your staff and your customers. Trust yourself – you are a sturdy leader and your staff is capable. In order to achieve your goals for the year, you must eliminate, delegate, and automate tasks for you and your staff by doing a little proactive decision-making.
The Eisenhower Matrix
According to Forbes, former President Dwight Eisenhower used a simple decision-making matrix during both his time as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces during World War II and as President of the United States.
The premise is straightforward: divide your tasks into quadrants. Your “X axis” is labeled “importance,” while your “Y axis” is labeled “urgency.” This means that the two left quadrants will be of low importance, while the two right quadrants are of high importance. The top quadrants are urgent, the bottom quadrants are not.
Once you draw your boxes, begin to fill them in with your daily work tasks. Something like “create a five year business plan” would be of high importance but low urgency. Alternatively, clearing out your inbox of dozens of emails might be of high urgency but low importance. Now it’s time to make some decisions.
Graphic inspired by the book “What Happens Now?” by John Hillen and Mark Nevins
Eliminate
Once your responsibilities have been separated into the four quadrants, you can eliminate some of them. The most obvious place to start is in the lower left quadrant, “low importance and low urgency.” This is the time you spend checking social media for the fifth time that day, or reorganizing your desk space each week because you tell yourself it will make you work more efficiently.
Next, create boundaries around the things you want to eliminate. Use a social media blocker app during work hours, or ask a coworker to keep you accountable to one office arrangement for three weeks straight.
Now you can move on to tasks that should be delegated.
Delegate
Which tasks can be delegated? The first place to look is the top left quadrant, “low importance and high urgency.” Sometimes called “quick wins,” these tasks often trick us into feeling productive but don’t contribute to our progress on measurable goals.
Perhaps all of your direct reports must get sick days and vacation time approved by you. If it’s within your power, delegate a team leader to approve these requests for you instead, unless they fall outside certain parameters. Or, if you’re in charge of payroll, perhaps a trusted accountant on your team could look it over for you and simply have you sign off on it instead of combing through it yourself.
Once you’ve delegated the tasks that need human attention of some sort, it’s time to automate.
Automate
Automation is able to be applied to tasks in all quadrants to varying degrees. A simple example is email. Set up filters for email from particular clients, emails with the word “deadline,” or emails from your boss. Most email providers have tools like this that can streamline your daily inbox perusal.
High importance tasks can be automated, too. Think about electronic reminder systems and calendars that ensure you get to meetings on time. Are there ways you could maximize those tools? Try setting timed focus sessions throughout the day on your calendar, preserving space to get the “high importance, low urgency” tasks done. These might be long-term planning or brainstorming sessions that aren’t technically urgent, but are vital to business success.
Finally, consider artificial intelligence. In today’s rapidly changing technological world, new forms of AI are constantly flooding the market claiming to make workplaces better, faster, and more profitable. If you looked at options for your team even six months ago, there could be better options out there today. For a step-by-step overview of how to research and implement AI for your sales team, check out our blog “Catching Up with AI Competitors.” You can also give Pipes.ai a try with our free lead optimizer tool.
Try our AI
Pipes.ai is a company founded by leaders of sales teams who were seeking streamlined lead management. In operation since 2018, Pipes.ai is one of the most vetted lead optimizing solutions on the AI market.
With a custom large language model (LLM) that is human-guided every step of the way, Pipes.ai filters through your team’s leads so that your sales staff can focus on only the most interested clients. It has a proven track record of increasing client conversion rates, is TCPA compliant, and can be implemented with most CRM’s and API’s in just 1-2 business days.
Now that you’ve eliminated, delegated, and automated tasks for 2024, consider Pipes.ai as an addition to your toolkit of optimization strategies. Let AI do the repetitive, difficult work, so you can focus on leading your team to surpass their top goals this year. Try our AI today.
