Setting Priorities to Increase Productivity. With Bridget Gleason [Episode 586]

Bridget Gleason is VP of Sales for Logz.io and my regular partner on Front Line Fridays.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Bridget is fantastic and busy! She talked to the executive coach working with her and he reminded her that her time management is within her control.

Andy refers to systems by David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, and Kevin Kruse, author of 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management. You can hear interviews with David, on Episode 483, and Kevin, on Episode 82.

Andy was using Kevin Kruse’s system until about four months ago when things just went off the rails! Andy is doing a reset and starting to be more clear about priorities. Bridget picks up projects that are left on the table. It’s too much.

It’s important not to be a helicopter manager. Lead your team to get their tasks done. Bridget’s compulsive neatness contributes to her tendency to take over.

Andy suggests reading about time management, and pick a methodology, to understand the principles. Find one that’s more aligned with who you are. Andy uses bits of several, which is a purposeful choice.

Everyone has a favorite sales metric. Bridget describes the KPIs she uses. She gets a snapshot of actionable items, such as MQLs, the dollar value at top-of-funnel, and prospects at the Proof-of-Concept stage.

Other KPIs Bridget looks at are stage conversions, revenue per rep, and how quickly reps ramp. Reps look at the same KPIs, so they know what matters to Bridget.

Andy says talk time is a metric some consider outmoded because it doesn’t move the needle. We have so much data coming to us; are we using the right data? Can we normalize other metrics? Bridget ignores some dashboards.

The problem with so much data is knowing what to look at. Are we missing something? Some assumptions may be wrong, and the data could clarify them if viewed correctly. Bridget talks about metrics used at an earlier job at Yesware.

Test your assumptions continually. One of the weak points of big data is that algorithms are based on assumptions. Reexamine assumptions to understand the data.

Please tell Andy and Bridget about your important metrics, and which ones provide less value now than they used to. Send them to Andy@ZeroTimeSelling.com.

We tend to use data to confirm what we already think to be true. We need to take maximum advantage of the data, to learn what we need to do differently than we now do. Get some outside perspective, such as a coach or consultant.