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How to time block in sales (with 4 calendar layers)
30 Minutes to President's Club
Quoted on this wiki
Every place a page here uses this source, in the order the words come in it.
So we'll breakdown the ideal sales calendar in four layers: “🟢 Active prospecting time (calls, emails, tasks)” 🟡 Passive prospecting time (admin work, account research)
🟢 Active prospecting time (calls, emails, tasks) “🟡 Passive prospecting time (admin work, account research)” Let's dive in.
The death of a seller is when you let non-revenue generating activities rule your day. “Checking your inbox, going on 1:1s, or wasting your time sending recap emails at 10am is a surefire way to miss your prospecting and pipeline generation goals.” You can outproduce the rep next to you 2x just by learning to manage your day. That means doing the right activities, at the right part of the day, for fully focused sprints.
“The death of a seller is when you let non-revenue generating activities rule your day.” Checking your inbox, going on 1:1s, or wasting your time sending recap emails at 10am is a surefire way to miss your prospecting and pipeline generation goals.
Layer 1: The inbox (8-12-3) “You think staring at your inbox all day and replying with a 2-minute SLA means you're closing deals faster. That's complete BS.” Customers are in back-to-back calls just like you. This is purely an excuse for you to look for "good news" in your inbox instead of actually going and finding more opportunities.
Unfortunately, there are tons of other things in sales. 1:1s, company meetings, pipeline reviews, and SFDC hygiene. Where do those go? “Wherever they fit after you do your daily prospecting and customer calls.” That means you might have to have the conversation with your manager asking to do your 1:1s at 3pm. Or you might need to work more efficiently in your 3-4pm because you need to add call prep and daily pipeline updates there too (that's what I did).
Active prospecting is defined as live cold calls or live cold emails. Always do your cold calls first thing in the morning, then your cold emails, then reserve a spillover block for whatever's left in the afternoon (often PM cold calls to change up the timezone). “As much as I wish you could always block prospecting from 9-10 every day, you often need to keep your calendar open for SDR meetings and automated demo bookings.” This also further serves the benefit of 1-hour activity stacking because the demos that get booked on your calendar will be forced into the open spaces.
Your golden hours are from 8am to 3pm: that means all active prospecting and customer calls must be done during these hours. “Always do your cold calls first thing in the morning, then your cold emails, then reserve a spillover block for whatever's left in the afternoon (often PM cold calls to change up the timezone).” If a day ever gets too crowded, block prospecting time on your calendar the moment you see under 2 hours free. As much as I wish you could always block prospecting from 9-10 every day, you often need to keep your calendar open for SDR meetings and automated demo bookings. But close it up when it gets crowded.