Here are two simple processes salespeople can learn to avoid information overload

by Dave Kahle

Im spending more and more time dealing with information. Its squeezing out my selling time.

Welcome to the information age. You are not unique. The problem of information inundation is a relatively new but almost universal threat to your livelihood. Four or five years ago, salespeople were not too concerned with information inundation.

Technological advances in recent years have multiplied the amount of information you must handle. Think of how much information about your customers you must keep. A few years ago, it was OK to keep everything in your head. Today, you need forms, documents, files and systems both electronic and paper to keep everything straight.

Consider the technical details of the products and programs you sell. Arent they more complex and sophisticated than just a few years ago? All that complexity takes the form of additional information that you must organize and master.

What about the computer systems you use and the information they produce? Most salespeople I know could spend eight to 12 hours a week just reviewing computer printouts. Add in memos from the boss, service bulletins, price increases, government regulations, new product specifications, the details of ever more complicated applications, etc., and your job is awash in information.

Imagine how many precious selling hours you would waste each week if you dont harness that tidal wave of information. So, what do you do? How can you gain control over the flow of information and protect your valuable selling time?

Defend yourself!
One strategy is to develop ways to keep tempting but useless information from stealing your time. To do so, you must understand and implement two key processes.

The first is screening. Imagine the screen on your window. It allows breezes to flow into the house, but keeps insects out.

Thats the idea behind the process of screening: allow in what you want, and keep out what you dont want. Unfortunately, you cant surround yourself with a physical screen. But you can implement the discipline of screening all the information that comes your way.

To do so, establish the habit of quickly assessing every piece of information that cries out for your time and deciding if it is likely to be useful. If so, let that piece in. If not, keep it out.

Lets imagine a scenario. Youve entered the office and pulled a pile of stuff from your mailbox. The first thing you see is a new price list for a product line you rarely sell. Is this useful to you? Probably not. You throw it out.

Next is a service bulletin on a piece of equipment you havent sold in years. Is it useful? Probably not. Out it goes.

Next is a computer report comparing last years sales in three product lines to sales from two years ago on those same lines. Is it useful? In the round file it goes.

Finally, theres a memo from the boss outlining the agendas, location and schedules of sales meetings for the next two months. Better hold on to that one. You continue this way, quickly appraising every piece of information and disposing of every piece you deem not useful.

This whole process may only take a few seconds. But your disciplined screening process kept a lot of useless information from sucking away your time. The net effect was that you created more selling time for yourself by disciplining yourself to keep out that which is useless, and to allow in that which is useful.

OK, now you have a pile of stuff that, on first glance, looked like it might be useful. What do you do now? Implement the second key process, triaging.

In every hospital emergency room, someone performs the triage function. They make a quick assessment of the condition of the incoming patients, then send them to treatment depending on that initial assessment.

Thats what you do with the pile of information on your desk. You look at each piece of information and send it to the location where it can be dealt with appropriately. Say, for example, you have a spot for Read and handle immediately. You have a file for Put this stuff into my account folders. You have a folder for Study this when you have time. You have yet another marked File with product information.

Now that you know what your options are, you are ready to triage the pile of information on your desk. Look at each piece, and place it in the location where you can deal with it appropriately. If you have thought about this beforehand and arranged an effective file system, this process may take just a few moments. At the end of that time, everything is in its place and you can now deal with it in the time and place you choose.

You sit down with the Read and handle immediately pile and process that. The Study this when you have time file goes in your briefcase to be reviewed while you wait for appointments, or on those occasions when you have lunch by yourself. The stuff for account folders and product folders goes home with you for review and for filing in your home office on Friday afternoons or Saturday mornings.

Maintain discipline
By implementing these two disciplines, you have taken what could have been an hour or two of information-engagement and turned it into a few moments of disciplined involvement on your part. Youve gotten back hours of selling time and prevented the tidal wave of information from washing you away.

This process of screening and triaging works with any kind of information. Apply it to your list of daily e-mails. Ditto the stuff in your inbox, and the pile of envelopes and catalogs that arrive in the mail.

Unfortunately, the information-rich world in which we live has created a situation where some techniques and strategies that used to work are no longer as effective as they once were. To maintain your effectiveness in a rapidly changing world, you need to take on new skills and processes. Defending yourself from the tidal wave of information that threatens to drown you is one of them.

Dave Kahle is a consultant and trainer who helps his clients increase their sales and improve their sales productivity. He can be reached at , or via e-mail at .

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2001 issue of Progressive Distributor. Copyright 2001.

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