How To Work Weekends, While Not "Really" Working

One of the biggest mistakes so many B2B sales people make is the idea you can punch out at 5pm (12pm for most) on Friday and be checked out till 9am 'ish on Monday morning.  The problem with this thinking is people like myself and other top performing sales people who know the reason both days of the weekend start with "S" is because they are SALES days!!!

Now, I am not saying you need to be putting in 10 hours days Saturday and Sunday, because I certainly am not.  But, you do need to make sure that you are still active with your network, especially on the weekends.

Below are three easy things you need to do to keep your business network engaged on the weekends, while not taking away from your personal and family life.

1. Schedule Your Email Times - 15 minutes, 3 times a day (mine times are: 8am, 12p, and 8pm) to check and respond to any emails you received.  Also use down time to do spot checks for important emails.  This way you can keep up on all emails, while not impacting personal time with family.

2. Automate Your Social Media - If your business network is engaged with you using social media, try using pre-loaded posts that are then schedule to be posted on your behalf over the weekend.  I use a combination of two products:

Buffer App (http://www.bufferapp.com) - This is a easy to use web and phone application that allows you to load up links and posts that are then posted on a set schedule.  If you go this route, make sure to get the pay for version.  It is inexpensive, but allows you to link unlimited accounts, and load up as many posts as your heart desires.

Tweet Deck (http://www.tweetdeck.com) - Far and beyond one of my all time favorite social media applications.  I use this application all the time for tracking all my social channels, and scheduling specific posts that I want to go out.  This is really good for high impact posts that you want sent out a a very specific time on very specific channels.

--> Two quick tips with both of these applications.-->
1. I schedule one hour every Friday to do nothing but load up my Buffer and Tweet Deck with posts for the following week, or longer if I am traveling.  This way I can set it and forget it, and not have to worry about it till the following week.  Makes things very easy, and forces me to do it each week.

2. Though both programs are great for posting, you still have to manage your social channels.  Though it may sound hard, I have a personal goal to respond to any post that mentions me, or asks me something within 2 - 3 minutes.  This is hard to manage, but I find it to be very impactful to my business network, and has led to a lot of business to come my way because of my responsiveness 24x7/365.

3.  Sunday Night Prospecting - Why wait till Monday, when no one wants to hear from you anyways.  Sunday allows you to get ahead of everyone and be the first thing your prospect sees and hears on Monday morning.  The quick trick here is to limit your time to 1 hour, and only do this after your kids are asleep (if you have kids).  In my hour, I dedicated my hour to calling because I do all my prep work on Friday so my time is as efficient as possible.

Here is what the whole thing looks like:

Friday:
- Create a list of prospects in our CRM that I need to call and leave a touch point voice mail for.
(I average 57 dials per hour with voice mail, so I know I need at least 60 numbers on my list)

- Schedule a reminder in my calendar for my 1 hour of calling

- Create a list of prospects I want to email

- Create a template email to send out to all the recipients

- Upload both the email list and email to Constant Contact (http://www.constantcontact.com) and schedule email to be sent out at 10pm, Sunday evening

Sunday:
- Sit down and close the door and run though my canned voice mail scripts in my head two - three times.

- Begin dialing and leaving voice mails.  (Though I have canned messages they are very personalized so they sound unique and engaging.)

- Take the last 10 minutes to update my CRM of my actions and what I left in voice and via email

All told you will only use up about 2 - 3 hours of your time on the weekend, but the results will be HUGE.  I am a big advocate of life work balance, and there is no reason in a sales role you can not have both.

Remember your family is who will support you and help you get through those bad quarters.  So always put their needs of you first.  But, also remember a sales role does not stop for weekends!  So if you schedule your time carefully, and be as efficient as possible you can work on the weekend, while not "really" working.

To Your Success & Prosperity!!!