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The Sales Acceleration Show Follow @GabeLarsen and @SteveEror on Twitter and LinkedIn: Steve Eror - Gabe Larsen Sales people waste a lot of time doing random tasks. Sales reps attempt to manage their time but become overwhelmed by long lists and outside distractions. A lot of companies sign their reps up for time management courses only to have great habits disappear. In this episode, Amanda Holmes, CEO of Chet Holmes International, talks about the book "The Ultimate Sales Machine" and dives deep into time management techniques to boost sales productivity immediately. Here is the six step process Amanda recommends. As Chet says, "Don’t think about if you’ve heard them before, think about if you are applying the discipline to implement them." Step One - Touch It Once How many times have you looked at an email and left it right at the top of your inbox only to come back a few minutes later to do something with it? Don't redo tasks. Touch it once and move on to your next activity. Step Two: Make Lists Just by making a list your can dramatically improve your productivity. The key is to find a way to only have six items on your list. Step Three: Allocate Take your list of six items and plan how long each item will take. Don't fool yourself. If your activities add up to more than the time you have to work that day then you need to rethink your list. Step Four: Prioritize Put your most important items first. Too often we're tempted to check off the small or non-important tasks which leaves no time to accomplish the most important tasks. Step Four: Prioritize Put your most important items first. Too often we're tempted to check off the small or non-important tasks leaving the most important items to never be accomplished. Step Five: Plan Your Day With a prioritized and manageable list, begin to plan your day by putting activities into time slots. Be sure to remember to plan for items like "gotta minute meetings" and "checking emails". Be proactive about these types of activities instead of reactive. Step Six: Throw it Away We want to hold on to everything but we never end up reviewing it. Find a way to dejunk. Either be brave enough to throw things away or create a organizational system that allows you to eliminate "stuff" and not have to look at it again.