Stop Multitasking and Start Selling: How to Protect Your Prospecting Time

You sit down to start prospecting.

You make a call. Then an email comes in. You answer it.

You make another call. A Teams or Slack message pops up.

You check LinkedIn before calling your next prospect. That turns into five minutes of research. Then you remember an opportunity that needs to be updated in the CRM.

An hour goes by.

You’ve been working the entire time, but how much prospecting did you actually do?

If you’re looking for ways to improve your B2B sales prospecting, one of the most effective changes may also be one of the simplest:

Stop trying to prospect all day. Create a shorter period when prospecting is the only thing you do.

Create a Protected Prospecting Block

Years ago, sales professionals relied heavily on the telephone to build their pipelines. Successful salespeople understood the importance of creating dedicated periods for making calls.

That principle may be even more valuable today.

Try blocking 45 to 90 minutes on your calendar specifically for prospecting.

During that time:

• Close your email.
• Silence Slack or Teams.
• Put your smartphone out of reach.
• Avoid unnecessary CRM administration.
• Don’t conduct prospect research between every call.
• Don’t schedule internal meetings.
• Focus on creating conversations.

Think of it as your protected prospecting time.

Your goal isn’t necessarily to make as many calls as humanly possible.

Your goal is to eliminate the gaps and distractions between those calls.

Prepare Your Prospect List Before You Start

Don’t use valuable prospecting time deciding whom to prospect.

Before your calling block starts, have your target list ready.

Know:

• Who are you calling?
• Why are you calling them?
• What do you know about the company?
• What’s your reason for reaching out?
• What’s the next step you’re trying to achieve?

Use your CRM, LinkedIn, AI, sales intelligence platforms, and other research tools beforehand.

Then stop researching.

Preparation time is preparation time. Prospecting time is selling time.

Separating those two activities can dramatically improve your focus.

Build a Prospecting Workstation

Your physical environment matters too.

You don’t need a dedicated call center or fancy office. You need a workspace that makes it easy to have conversations without distractions.

Before your prospecting block begins, get everything ready:

• A quality headset
• Your prepared prospect list
• CRM records open and ready
• Key talking points
• A notebook if you use one
• Water
• A quiet environment
• Notifications turned off

Some salespeople also find that standing while making calls increases their energy and improves how they sound.

Experiment.

The objective is to create a workspace where making the next call is easier than doing anything else.

Don’t Let the CRM Break Your Momentum

You finish a call.

Now what?

Capture the information you need:

What happened? What did I learn? What’s my next step?

Then move on.

If extensive CRM administration is required, consider completing it after your focused prospecting period whenever possible.

Momentum is incredibly important in prospecting.

The longer you wait between calls, the easier it becomes to find something else to do.

Measure Conversations, Not Just Calls

Don’t judge a prospecting session solely by how many numbers you dialed.

Track outcomes such as:

• Conversations
• Decision-makers reached
• Follow-up opportunities
• Meetings scheduled
• Qualified opportunities
• Pipeline generated

Suppose you spend one highly focused hour prospecting and create four meaningful conversations and two follow-up meetings.

That’s a productive hour.

The goal isn’t activity for activity’s sake. The goal is creating opportunities.

Try It for 30 Days

Here’s the challenge.

For the next 30 days, put a protected prospecting block on your calendar.

Before the block, prepare.

During the block, eliminate distractions.

After the block, complete your follow-up and administrative work.

Then track your results.

You may discover that you don’t need another prospecting tool, another email template, or another sales hack.

You may simply need more focused selling time.

Sales professionals today have access to technology that previous generations of salespeople couldn’t have imagined.

Use it.

But don’t allow all that technology to distract you from one of the most important activities in sales:

Having conversations with people who might buy what you sell.

Sometimes improving your sales prospecting isn’t about adding something new.

It’s about removing everything that gets in the way.

About Treeline, Inc.

Founded in 2001, Treeline, Inc. is an award-winning sales recruiting firm exclusively focused on helping companies build world-class, high-output sales teams.

For more than 24 years, Treeline has partnered with hundreds of respected companies across the United States and thousands of top-tier sales professionals. Treeline has helped change the careers and lives of more than 3,500 sales professionals.

Sales recruiting isn’t one of the things we do. It’s what we do.

Treeline’s recognition includes Forbes America’s Best Professional Recruiting Firms, Inc. Magazine Best Workplaces, Boston Business Journal Best Places to Work in Massachusetts, Inc. 5000, Selling Power Sales Excellence Awards, and numerous other recruiting, executive search, sales, and workplace awards.

Whether you’re looking for your next sales opportunity or building a high-performing sales organization, visit www.treelineinc.com to learn more.