Focus Supplement 2 - Summer 2017 - 9

GUEST EDITOR
Alison Quinn

Striking a Balance
We only have 24
hours in a day, so
how can it all get
accomplished?

alance is a condition where diﬀerent
elements or responsibilities are given
equal time or importance. Field sales
trainers may be tasked with maintaining a sales
territory, achieving sales goals, onboarding new
sales reps, coaching, developing training
materials, completing field rides and delivering
training in a normal week. So how do you
achieve balance across all competing priorities?
Without balance, all of these competing
responsibilities may result in stress and a lack
of eﬀectiveness. But we only have 24 hours in a
day, so how can it all get accomplished?
Time management techniques can help to
manage the workload and stress that come
along with competing priorities. Step one is
planning. Set aside time to plan for the day
ahead. Planning can look like:
* Make a list of what you need to accomplish
- keep your list to no more than 10 items.
* Prioritize your list.
* Complete your most important/highest
priority tasks first.
* Schedule time on your calendar to do the
work. Be realistic about how long it will take
to do each item.
Prioritizing sounds easy, but all of your todo list items may be important. Ranking your
list by timeliness may help gain clarity. A time
quadrant that groups items by important/
urgent important/not urgent, not important/
urgent, and not important/not urgent may help.
You can also group like items together, like
making or returning phone calls. As you
complete an item, re-evaluate your list to
ensure that priorities have not changed.
Communication about workload and deadlines
with your manager(s) will help to coordinate
priorities, especially when multiple managers
are involved.

Even with the best planning, some days just
don't go according to plan. Here are some tips
for keeping yourself on track:
* An urgent issue arises. If something urgent
comes up, organize what you are working on
so you can pick it up easily at a later point.
* You receive new assignments or projects.
Assess the priority level for the new project
and get clarification on where it fits with
your existing priorities.
* You are managing several high priority
projects. Break the projects down into
smaller tasks and schedule time for
completion in your daily task list.
* Your project completions are dependent on
input from others. Provide a due date and
send a reminder the day before it is due.
Other tips to keep your day productive:
* Schedule time to check email. Reading or
responding to emails as they are received is
an ineﬃcient use of time. Checking email
and responding at set times for set periods of
time allows for uninterrupted project time.
Turning oﬀ email notifications can help keep
you to your schedule.
* Use your tools. Scheduling both personal
and work items in one calendar allows you
to see your entire day. Use the task list to
help prioritize and schedule completion
dates. Color-coding appointments makes it
easy to see the topic for each meeting.
* Plan your work according to energy level.
Schedule your project work during your
high energy times of day. Save email or
phone calls for when energy is lower.
How you achieve balance can look diﬀerent
for everyone. Planning, prioritization and
communication will help you give equal time or
importance to competing priorities when
managing across multiple job functions. ■

Alison Quinn is associate director, worldwide product and therapeutic sales training, for Bristol-Myers Squibb, and
leads the LTEN Field Sales Training Committee. Email Alison at Alison.Quinn@bms.com.

FOCUS | Field Sales Training 2017 | www.L-TEN.org

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Focus Supplement 2 - Summer 2017