The Hidden Metric That’s Holding Your Sales Team Back
We’ve all heard great leaders say, “Hire good people and get out of their way.” But what if, as the leader, you step aside, yet the systems you’ve built are still blocking your team’s progress? If your team is bogged down with tasks like updating CRMs, writing proposals, or chasing internal approvals, that’s a problem.
Sales leaders often focus on metrics like quota attainment and deal close rates, but one of the most overlooked metrics is how much time your reps spend on non-selling activities. This hidden time drain could be the very thing preventing your team from reaching its full potential.
At SalesFirst Recruiting, we frequently hear from candidates who are frustrated because quotas keep rising, but their time in the field to sell is shrinking. This disconnect is particularly frustrating for top performers who want to be out in front of clients, making deals happen, not buried in busywork.
Why This Metric Matters
Your sales reps were hired to sell. So why are they spending hours on administrative tasks instead of doing what you hired them to do? If you’re not tracking how much time they spend on non-selling activities, you might be missing an opportunity to uncover inefficiencies.
Tracking this metric can highlight areas worth exploring, such as:
Where time is wasted: Are your reps spending too much time entering data into a CRM?
Process bottlenecks: Is your system or approval chain creating unnecessary delays?
Opportunities for automation: Which tasks could be automated or handled by support staff?
This isn’t about fixing everything at once. It’s about asking the right questions and identifying changes that can give your team more room to succeed.
How to Start Tracking It
Before you can free up your team’s time, you need to understand where it’s going. Tracking how much time your sales reps spend on non-selling activities doesn’t require a massive overhaul. Start small, and let the insights guide your next steps.
Here are some ways to begin:
Activity Audits: Ask reps to log their tasks for a week. Are they spending hours on CRM updates or piecing together proposals? Reassure them this isn’t about nitpicking—it’s about finding ways to lighten their load.
CRM Usage Data: Review your system’s usage patterns. How much time are reps spending entering or updating data? This could uncover surprising inefficiencies.
Time-Tracking Tools: Use time studies or lightweight tracking apps to get a clearer picture of how their day is spent—without adding extra work.
The goal isn’t to micromanage, but to uncover clues. When you identify tasks that are slowing reps down, you can figure out how to streamline or reassign them. By keeping the focus on freeing up their time, your team will understand that this process is about helping them, not scrutinizing them.
Why It Matters
If you find new ways to give your team more time to focus on selling, the difference can be dramatic. Imagine if each rep could reclaim just one hour per day from administrative tasks. What would that do for their productivity? For a team of ten reps, that’s 50 hours per week spent on building relationships, following up with prospects, and closing deals instead of getting buried in busywork.
The idea is here is open the door to bigger conversations, such as:
Are certain tasks even necessary, or are they just habits?
Could simple tools or tweaks eliminate bottlenecks?
What could happen if you focused even more on enabling your team to do what they do best—sell?
It’s about asking yourself: What are you unintentionally getting in the way of, and what would happen if you stepped back?
Wrapping It Up
Ultimately, your sales team was hired for one reason: to sell. The more time they spend on non-revenue-generating tasks, the more you’re holding them back from doing what they do best.
By examining how much time your reps spend on non-selling activities, you’re not just identifying inefficiencies—you’re sending a clear message: You’re here to sell, and we’re here to support you.
Tracking this underrated metric isn’t about micromanaging or adding pressure. It’s about finding the areas where you, as a leader, can clear the path. When you hire good people and get out of their way, amazing things happen.
