“It has to be a balance of three priorities because you always have to find balance in how you move forward.” – Irfan Jafar in today’s Tip 1378
What’s your thought about this?
Join the conversation below and check out the links!
VMware
Irfan Jafar on LinkedIn
Irfan Jafar on Sales Success Stories Interview
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Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s throwback Thursday Tip comes from my conversation with Irfan Jafar of VMware in episode 115 of the Sales Success Stories podcast. Listen to this:
Scott Ingram: You know, I wonder because this is kind of the reason why I get up so early is when you think about those top priorities. I have to imagine you’re typically able to crank those out before most people start a normal workday. Are you taking advantage of that quiet and using that opportunity? Maybe a different way of thinking that is like, at what point in a typical day have you knocked out your top three?
Irfan Jafar: Well, it’s going to depend on those three priorities, but I would say most effective work, I’m talking effective, but not most work, is done by 9 a.m. All right. So maybe drafting an email with the right message and you know this, though, that can take hours if you want to have the right message with everything in place, it may be two paragraphs, but it takes time to craft that message.
So two of those priorities, one or two of those priorities will be done by 9 a.m. And that would set the tone for the day, right? Because now you have already done one important thing or two important things. Now you only got one more to knock out.
And the third priorities or the third priority could be more around just keeping up with your learning. So it might not be as critical as the other two, but it has to be a balance of three priorities because you always have to find balance in how you move forward. Maybe reaching out to the execs, maybe providing some content to your customers, maybe internal engagement, maybe even working on yourself. It has to be a good balance.
But I would say when you start that early during the day and you’re not getting that many emails or folks are not putting meetings on your calendar at that time, granted my customers are global, so some of them sometimes you’ll have 6 a.m. meetings as well. But that’s when I think the work that I put in in the morning hours is that much more impactful. And I focus on impact, right? It’s not the hours that you’re putting in.
Scott Ingram: Yeah, that is so good. And I think a lot of the same way, right? I mean, people often look at me and like, “Scott, how the heck are you doing all of this?” And it’s a very similar process, right? It’s really getting clear and focused and doing that prioritization work. And if you can knock out the most important things by 9 o’clock and that’s almost the way I think about it, right? If the work that I get done before nine or noon is probably the same as what an average person does who isn’t focused and isn’t disciplined, and then everything else I get done that’s just gravy, that’s bonus.
Irfan Jafar: Exactly. And think about this, Scott. If you don’t do it that way, what’s going to happen? You’re just going to be reacting. You’re just going to be reacting all day and then you’re going to be hoping that I will get to what I really want to get to and then you don’t get to it. You don’t get to it. And it starts to compound every day. Right. If that’s your trend, I mean, what is your trajectory going to look like?
Scott Ingram: For a link to my full conversation with Irfan as well as a link to connect with him directly, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1378 and then… Be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!