Todd Duncan - Time Traps: Proven Strategies for Swamped Salespeople

Copyright 2004 and 2006 by Todd M. Duncan

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishing House. All rights reserved.

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Jacket design: The Design Works Group, Inc.

Front cover image: Steve Gardner, Pixelworks Studio

Interior design: Walter Petrie

Previously published as Time Traps: Proven Strategies for Swamped Salespeople

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Duncan, Todd, 1957
Time traps : proven strategies for swamped professionals / Todd M. Duncan.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-7852-6323-3 (hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-7852-8833-3 (trade paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7852-8833-6 (trade paper)
1. Sales management. 2. Time management. I. Title.
HF5438.4.D857 2004
658.8'1dc22

2004023129

Printed in the United States of America

07 08 09 10 11 RRD 6 5 4 3 2

Contents

Chapter One:
Time Matters All the Time
When Does It Matter to You?

Chapter Two:
Fighting Back
Will You Fight?

Chapter Three:
The Organization Trap
Wasting Time Juggling Unnecessary Tasks

Chapter Four:
The Yes Trap
Wasting Time Saying Yes

Chapter Five:
The Control Trap
Wasting Time Hoarding Tasks

Chapter Six:
The Technology Trap
Wasting Time on Time-Saving Devices

Chapter Seven:
The Failure Trap
Wasting Time Worrying about Yesterday

Chapter Eight:
The Party Trap
Wasting Time Celebrating Success

Chapter Nine:
The Identity Trap
Wasting Time Losing Yourself

Chapter Ten:
Freedom
Investing Time in Your Best Life

Appendix: For Marketplace Professionals
The Quota Trap
Wasting Time Working Cheap

THE ONLY TIME THAT COUNTS IS THE TIME
THAT YOU MAKE COUNT. TIME MATTERS, TODAY
MATTERSMAKE IT YOUR MASTERPIECE!

I n November of last year, I asked seven people to meet for half a day to talk about the first edition of this book. In the room sat the vice president of a large logistics company, a life coach, a publisher (not my own), a salesperson, a former marketing consultant for Home Depot, my writer, and the CEO of my company. Each had read the book and were there to offer feedback.

It was my original intent to write Time Traps for all the salespeople I teach and interview throughout the world. This is why the first edition contains the subtitle: Proven Solutions for Swamped Salespeople. However, the purpose of the meeting I mention was to discuss a new edition.

After Time Traps became a New York Times best seller, the comment I kept hearing from radio interviewers, letters, and personal encounters was: You dont really have to be in sales to make use of this book... My friend (or spouse or colleague, etc.) is a such-and-such and she applied the principles to her life with great success.

I heard the comment enough times that I began to wonder if I shouldnt expand the scope of the book in a new editionthis time with some thoughts and insights for a more general audience: all professionals, not just sales professionals.

I mulled this over for a while and then I spoke with my publisher, and they posed the same idea. It was confirmation, and so I set out to complete a second edition of Time Traps with a new subtitle, Proven Solutions for Swamped Professionals, and new content.

It would have been easy enough to simply change the subtitle of the book and modify all the references of salespeople to professionals, but I wanted to do more. So I asked those in the November meeting to offer candid feedback. What about the book needed to be changed so that all professionals would find it very helpful? What parts of the first edition didnt apply to someone, say a corporate attorney, who wasnt part of a sales force but nonetheless struggled with a hectic schedule? What needed to be added so that professionals from surgeons to teachers to athletes to accountants could learn to get themselves out of the swamp they are in and onto high ground where they have plenty of time to live out the lives they desire?

I looked to the seven for answers because they are part of this broader audience, and I felt they could tell me what they and the professionals they knew needed.

Their candid input, along with some revisions and updates, make this second edition all-the-more useful. I believe Time Traps now contains the principles and practical applications required for any professional to step out of the swamp and gain more freedom to do what they really want to do with each day.

My experience and my heart tell me this is still achievable for anyonefor youno matter how busy or behind you are now. My main hope as you begin this book is that you will find more time and greater freedom in your life after reading and applying what you learn. Trust me, theres still hope and theres still time. Enjoy this ride, and then experience your freedom.

The problem with life is that its daily.

JEFF DUNN, PUBLISHER

Y ou could hear the wind screaming past the open door. My executive team and I were two-and-a-half miles above the earth and it was time to jump. The man standing by the large opening in the planes side shouted over the noise. On zero you could not hesitate. We had practiced on the ground all day; we had studied how to jump and what to expect; our packs were secure and tightly fastened, and we had donned our helmets. Now it was go time. We were as ready as we were going to be. The four of us smacked our hands together and hollered in out-of-character fashion the way guys do when theyre acting courageous. Then came the moment of truth.

ThreetwooneGo!... Go!... Go!... Go!

One by one, we dropped from the plane like bombs from a B-52 and sped toward the ground at 120 miles an hour. Whether we liked it or not, our lives were now in our own hands. The time we spent rehearsing was past. All that mattered now were the next sixty seconds, three seconds at a time. We had to pay attention; it was life or death important. To pull the rip cord too early would endanger a fellow skydiver and send you well off course. To pull the cord too late was, well, far worse. Time matters in such moments, and my watch remained well within sight.