Salespeople are often at the beck-and-call of their customers’ and/or prospects’ availability. It makes keeping an organized life and calendar difficult. That’s not just true for salespeople though…I think that business professionals’ calendars and schedules are increasingly in-flux as responsibilities get added, as goals get created and updated, as projects get added….the list goes on.

As a career-long sales person myself, I know that most salespeople, like me, can tend to have minds that go 1,000,000 miles per minute, thinking of sales calls to make, sales to close, projects to embark upon, presentations to give…not to mention all of the things that are going on in one’s personal life!

With a job that is always demanding, a schedule that is always changing, and a mind that is racing, organization and structure seems to be a far-off dream. However it is imperative that some semblance of organization and structure is achieved.

What is imperative is that as a salesperson, you don’t try to adopt someone else’s organizational system. That, I believe, is a cause of stress and anxiety for so many people. No one else is like you…so you need to create a system that works FOR YOU. You can learn an immense amount from studying other people’s systems and books (Getting Things Done by David Allen, for example). I LOVE reading productivity books and understanding what practices work for other people. However, instead of going 100% in on someone else’s system, I take all of the advice I read and I take bits and pieces of it that specifically get my attention, and I apply those.

The end goal of applying any productivity advice as a sales person is this…to live your life, eliminate stress, and close more sales. If your practices are not helping you achieve those things, then it is not right for you.

Here are 7 Tips to Get You Started with Getting Your Life and Sales Organized

1. You need a system for organization and task management. If you don’t, you will have so many scattered thoughts, and so much stress, that you will forget things that need to be done and will not be as successful as you could be.
2. You need routine. Create a small routine for yourself to start, that you will follow every day, by doing this, you can be sure that you are accomplishing everything you need to and want to
3. Organize your tasks and projects based upon what works for you. As I mentioned above, no one is like you, so you need to do what works for you. If that’s keeping a detailed list of every project and task, then that’s great. If it’s keeping your tasks in a paper notebook, that’s great too. If it’s keeping a simple list of to-dos, that’s great. What matters is that you have a task management system that allows you to not forget what you need to get done, and that allows you to do those things!
4. Have a task inbox. Maybe you carry around a small notebook, or maybe you use your phone…but what matters is that you have a practice that allows you to capture your thoughts as soon as you think them. If you think of something you need to do, or someone asks you to follow up with them on something, you need to be able to get it out of your head and write it down.
5. Regularly review your tasks. At the end of every day, review what you captured in your task inbox, and figure out what action needs to be taken on it. 
6. Get rid of time-wasters. What are the things you do that you don’t need to be doing? Eliminate them. Say no to them. See what a difference it makes to only be focused on the activities that matter.
7. Prioritize Sales. Your number one task every day, as a sales person, should be selling. If you learn to keep track of your tasks in a meaningful way, it will allow you to structure and schedule your day in a way that allows you to focus on selling. If you are reading this and you’re not a salesperson, then replace “sales” with whatever your primary responsibility is.

Your task management system should allow you to accomplish your goals and push you towards that end. If it isn’t, you need to restructure your practices. Stay tuned for more advice and guidance on how sales people can master their schedules so that they can live life, eliminate stress, and close more sales!

Want more? Bottom line is, if you’re a sales person who’d like to know how to live your life, eliminate stress, and close more sales, then check this out http://www.livingsalesbook.com