Teaching Student How To Do Effective Daily Planning In Sales | Donald C. Kelly & Dr. BJ Allen - 09

Did you know that sales reps spend 60% of their day on tasks that don’t directly generate revenue? Much of this time is eaten up by planning and other non-sales activities. In this episode, BJ and I discuss how sales professors can teach students to plan their day effectively. This helps them stay productive and focus on the activities that drive results.Why Planning Matters·  In sales, everyone talks about closing techniques and prospecting hacks, but I want to shine a light on a less glamorous but crucial skill: planning. ·  Learning how to manage your time effectively is one of the most important foundations for early sales success, and it can make a real difference in how students perform once they hit the field.Student Insights: Planning’s Real-World Impact·  Over the years, I’ve been surprised by how much students value planning exercises.·  Many of them tell me that these lessons have had more impact than trendy topics like LinkedIn prospecting. ·  BJ and I have seen students consistently rank planning skills as the most transformative lesson, both for their careers and their personal productivity.Teaching Time Management: From Principles to Practice·   We break down how to embed planning into a sales curriculum in a practical way:o   Principles First: Students learn the difference between activity and productivity. We use exercises and psychological studies to bust multitasking myths and show the power of focused work.o   Time Blocking and Color Coding: Techniques like batching similar tasks and visually organizing a calendar help students understand where their time really goes.o   Weekly and Daily Planning: We walk students through breaking weekly targets into actionable daily routines, ensuring prospecting and customer-facing work happens consistently rather than by chance.Making Planning Measurable·  We also emphasize the importance of metrics. Tracking calls, outreach efforts, and alignment with KPIs turns planning into a measurable skill. ·  This approach moves students and new sellers from just staying busy to actually being productive and results-driven."Good salespeople know how to use their time effectively...People who can kind of plan their day and do more revenue generating activities are the ones that succeed." - BJ Allen"Focus on the activity and the results will come as a natural byproduct. But if you don’t plan at a day-to-day level, you might say, ‘I did some prospecting this week,’ but how much time did you really spend on it?" - Donald Kelly