Why do a group of salespeople with the same equipment, the same products and the same price list often get such different results? A few make big sales; others just get by; some even drop out altogether.

Generally speaking, it comes down to self-management. Salespeople differ in the way they manage their time and territory.

Not knowing how to make the most profitable use of their time is often more responsible for poor sales performance than mediocre sales skills. To a large extent, how you manage your time determines your selling success.

All people have 24 hours per day. Top sales performers don't fritter away their time on unproductive activity. They know that every minute counts, and that every hour added to selling time increases their chances of making more sales.

Selling time is the time spent in direct interpersonal contact with prospects and customers.

Here is how you can add five to ten more hours of selling time every week! Begin by calculating what you can gain from added selling time.

To find the value of your selling hours, divide the number of hours you spend in direct customer contact into your weekly order booking. For example, if you book orders worth 15 Lakhs a week and spend an average of 15 hours with customers and prospects, then your time is worth one Lakh per hour.

Once you know this figure, you also know that for each hour of selling time you add to your average of 15, you can expect to add an additional lakhs per week. The sooner you realize how you spend your selling day, the sooner you will be able to manage your time for better results. You will be able to distinguish between activities that take up too much time and activities that require more of your attention.

To get a better grasp of your time management, carry a pocket notebook with you. Jot down exactly how long each activity takes you - travel time, waiting for customers, meetings with customers, prospect meetings, lunch breaks, desk work etc. After a week, create a chart something like the one below:

A quick glance will show you that too much time is spent on lunches - a total of 7 hours for only five days. By limiting yourself to just 45 minutes per day, you can add 3.25 hours per week. Also, you can save hours of wasted waiting time by making definite appointments that assure prompt reception.

Perhaps you spend too much time traveling. This unprofitable activity can be reduced by planning your travel routes much more economically.

And notice that by doing your desk work at home in the evenings or weekends, you can devote six more hours per week to selling time. Time is your most valuable asset. Yet the average salesperson spends only two hours per day actually making sales presentations.

The rest of the day consists of reasonable traveling and inefficient weaving back and forth between prospects; reasonable friendly conversation and useless chitchat; reasonable lunch breaks and too much small talk; reasonable waiting to see the prospect and time-consuming inactivity.

By gradually minimizing and ultimately eliminating all unproductive activities, a typical salesperson can increase their selling time by at least 25%. This means you can reasonably expect a similar increase in your sales and income.

Here is a checklist to help you make an honest time analysis on yourself.

1) Do you get started as late as 10am too often?
2) Do you spend too much time reading the paper or watching TV?
3) Do you waste time by hanging around the house or office when you should be out selling?
4) Do you waste the first hour wondering where to go, how to get there, or whom to see?
5) Could you reduce waiting time by getting appointments before you see your prospect or customer?
6) Do you waste time by making personal visits for purposes that could be handled over the phone?
7) Do you spend too much time on lunch or coffee breaks?
8) Do you leave too much time between appointments?
9) Do you take time in the day for desk work you could very well do at home in the evening?
10) When you are forced to wait, do you have other work with you?
11) Do you waste time by needlessly prolonging interviews?
12) Do you waste time by crisscrossing your territory because you didn't plan your calls logically?
13) Do you call on some accounts more often than their potential warrants?
14) Do you waste too much time on people who are of no possible value in helping you accomplish your sales objectives?