When I first started my first sales job with a national chain, I was told I would have to juggle a lot of balls. In the first few weeks, I looked more like a dribbler than a juggler. I learned six approaches to pleasing the boss, while doing what really mattered, closing sales.

“You really got a time management problem!” Having just started a new job for a national hotel chain, I was rolling up seven reports a week, meeting with VP’s and my Directors for an additional three meetings a week, told I had to enter all activities in my database, and make sales to boot! I looked more like a dribbler than a juggler. Obsessed with not falling behind, this was a high-paying job, I worked 11-13 hour days, weekends, pulled time from my family, and just about wanted to quit by the sixth week.

I knew how to organize my time, but all corporate could summize was…bad time management. After visting with a more seasoned sales pro, a master juggler, I caught it. It wasn’t about my calendar or task manager, it was even more fundamental. It was my brain.

  1. Revenue covers a multitude of sins, that was my prirority. How to meet the demand for the time-consuming reports and meet-ups, that was my obstacle. Five simple tips I practiced, and before long I was making sales and never dropping another ball. 
  2. Find out why they need the report? It’s all about the numbers. No matter what field I’ve been through, you can count on this, your boss wants to know the numbers. Plan smart on how to put a number to what you are doing: Track your efficiencies, your selling, or the dollars you saved the company. Get the facts up to the boss and avoid fluff. Most managers today really want the fastest route to get their job done…just like you!
  3. Will they really read it? That is always the big question. The more employees like you, the less likely they are to focus on your specifics, no matter how important they might be to you. After you roll-up the report, observe what kind of response you get. Hopefully, it will be simply, ”Nice Work,” or “Good, thanks,” or some catch phrase you see on all their emails. If that is the case, only give them what they want, nothing more. Keep it brief. Don’t try to impress…you won’t.
  4. A plug for mediocrity, stay off the radar. If you are too productive, get too high a result, or worse, you are in the ditch, you will be blipping loudly. My mentor told me, “Work to stay in the upper middle of your co-workers.” The less often you are the top dog or pulling up the donkey tail, the less likely you are to “be studied.” If you want to have more time and less stress, stay off the radar.
  5. How much detail do they really need? Don’t be a perfectionist, decide the quickest way to get your numbers to your boss and do it. I used to think, what was important to me would be important to them. Wrong. Whatever is required, stick to it. Make sure you provide just enough information where they can glance at your numbers and pass it upstream.
  6. Can you cut and paste? Here’s a simple fix. If you have duplicate info in your reports, use it. Cut and paste, but make sure to disguise it with a bit of editing. Make it look fresh, but keep the changes simple. At a luxury hotel chain where I first started, I was repremanded for cutting and pasting on reports, even though it was the same information. “Our clients are unique,” they argued. So I worked to cut and past and make little changes. It increased my efficiency another 20% and gave them what they wanted. Duplicate, but in disguise.

Once I got it down, I could meet MY priorities, yet still helped my corporation reach theirs. Juggling really isn’t that hard once you hit your pace and keep your eye on the ball, quickly. Juggling well is fun, easy to do, and gets more coins in your cup!