In this two-part series, we explain the importance of defining your role and how to clearly define those responsibilities. Part 1 described the dangers of trying to take on too many projects and how this can ultimately lead to job burn out. In Part Two, we’re focusing on actionable steps you can take to communicate with management, set your area of responsibilities, and define your job priorities.
How do you identify which responsibilities contribute to your ultimate sales goal of generating leads and converting sales? If you’re overwhelmed by marketing projects or other tasks, this can be harder than it seems.
The best way to quickly identify whether something is crucial to your role in online sales is to ask yourself:
“Is what I’m doing right now converting prospects or generating interest?” If the answer is no, then you need to reevaluate what you’re doing. Identifying those lead-generating responsibilities is tied into your primary priorities.
As an online sales specialist, you’re expected to reach and maintain a high conversion rate. This is your highest responsibility. Until you’ve completed this primary work, you shouldn’t even begin taking on secondary tasks, much less tasks outside of your role. Defining these priorities will help communicate your area of responsibility to management:
First Priority tasks are what create momentum, activity, and ultimately lead to sales:
Until you’ve completed these top priorities, nothing else can happen.
Second priority:
Again, ask yourself: is what you’re doing right now converting prospects or generating interest? These tasks above relate directly to these two goals. If you’re reaching those conversion goals, maybe you have time to look at the website. Does the landing page look good? Is it working right? Anything that relates to generating business and leads is what you should be focusing on.
You can even use these priorities to create daily plans. These plans can illustrate to management the time you have available to work on those conversion goals or take on new tasks. We will be releasing a new tool for planning your workday soon, so stay tuned for updates.
Creating your own Areas of Responsibility document will aid you in setting clear expectations of your role to management. When communicating with management, present activity breakdowns with detailed descriptions and time estimates. People need to know how long something takes you to do; what they think takes 5 minutes may take you up to 5 hours. Details like this will open their eyes to how much time you’re spending on non-sales-related work.
The power of this document is that it gives you the ability to break down activities to see if your area of responsibility needs to be adjusted. If you’ve found yourself saying “yes” to things outside of your job description, now is the time to adjust. Until you’re driving the exact results you want to drive and converting the way you want to convert, don’t add those extra things in there.
Once you’ve identified which tasks align with your sales goals and which ones you need to drop, this document can act as a contract. The next time your manager discusses a project with you, break it down and ask if they plan to add it to your area of responsibility. Revisit this document as often as possible – with every coaching interaction or meeting.
With this information in hand, you can confidently say “No” to extra responsibilities and instead focus on online sales tasks. You will set clear expectations and have activity breakdowns to demonstrate which tasks are within your area of responsibility.
