Time is a precious resource in sales. The efficacy of your sales process, whether a deal winds up closed-won, and virtually every KPI used to gauge your performance all hinge upon how effectively you spend yours.
But efficiently and effectively allocating your time can be tricky in sales, and running into at least a few time-wasters here and there is par for the course. That's why you need to stay on top of any potential time-draining hitches and understand how to remedy them when you hit them.
To help you get there, we here at The HubSpot Sales Blog — the mitochondria of the broader sales and sales-adjacent content cell — reached out to a few sales leaders for some perspective on common ways sales professionals waste their time and how to best avoid those pitfalls.
8 Common Ways Sales Professionals Waste Their Time
1. Engaging With Unqualified Leads.
Ulyana Shnitsar, Sales Manager & BDM at Mgroup, says, "As a sales professional in B2B sales, I have come across salespeople who tend to lapse into time-wasting activities, some of which I myself have been guilty of.
“I have seen people engaging with unqualified leads. Getting excited about a promise is one thing, but if the prospect is not a perfect fit, one can end up wasting time. To make the most out of my time, I have switched to using better qualifying questions.”
2. Over-Preparing
Shnitsar also says, “Sometimes, people set out to achieve goals which can be classified as over-preparing. Working on preparation is important, but not to the extent that I would spend hours designing a presentation folder with the perfect pitch deck or practicing each and every hypothetical scenario. Now, my approach is to know the issues of the client and have a sharp outline of steps I want to accomplish to solve all the issues.”
3. Running Product Demos That Don't Connect With What a Buyer Actually Cares About
Katie Breaker, Sales Director at BirdieBall, says, “A walkthrough of every single feature might seem helpful, but buyers are not looking for a list of tools. They want to know how the product solves their specific problem. Starting the demo with a conversation about their challenges and then showing exactly how the product helps keeps them engaged. The more relevant the demo feels, the more likely the deal moves forward without unnecessary delays.”
4. Neglecting Followup and Not Fostering Long-Term Relationships
Arjun Narayan, Founder and CEO of SalesDuo, says, "A surefire way to waste time is by neglecting follow-ups and failing to develop meaningful long-term customer relationships. If you fail to stay in touch, you will waste valuable chances for repeat sales and referrals.
“Prioritize establishing robust long-term relationships with your customers and nurture loyalty and trust. Develop a strategic follow-up approach, engaging promptly and consistently with prospects and current customers.”
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5. Chasing Deals That Are Already Dead
Scott Gabdullin, CEO and Founder of Learo, says, "Chasing deals that are already dead. It is easy to reassure yourself that a prospect simply needs one more follow-up, but somewhere in your gut, you know when something has no real momentum.
“The most effective way to prevent this practice is by establishing clearly defined exit criteria — if the deal at hand hasn't made meaningful progress after a certain number of follow-ups, it's time to let go of the prospect. Direct your efforts toward strong prospects who have a great likelihood to close in the near future. Eliminating dead leads allows for more fruitful conversations that actually get you somewhere.”
6. Over-Customizing Sales Pitches
Niclas Schlopsna, Managing Consultant and CEO of spectup, says, "A classic time-sink is over-customizing sales pitches. I remember working with a SaaS startup where sales reps were spending hours crafting hyper-specific decks for each meeting, only to find that 80% of their content never came up in conversations.
“The solution? Building flexible but modular presentation frameworks that allow the salesperson to tailor key pieces without reinventing the wheel every time. This saved the team hours per week and gave them more focus for actual selling.”
7. Following up Without Clear Next Steps
Schlopsna also says, "Endless follow-ups without a clear next step can kill productivity. One of our team members at spectup always emphasizes the importance of ending every interaction with a clearly defined action point — whether that's scheduling the next call or agreeing on deliverables.
“It sounds simple, but it prevents what I call the 'limbo loop,' where you're emailing back and forth without progress. Eliminating these inefficiencies doesn't just save time; it also gives sales teams more energy to focus on the deals that matter.”
8. Over-Talking in Demos
Guillaume Drew, Founder of Or & Zon, says, "Sales reps often fall into the trap of over-explaining features without fully understanding customer pain points. A key element of success here is to talk less and listen more.
“Adopting consultative sales techniques has worked wonders for me. In these techniques, the demo is more of a discussion, which makes it easier to tailor the demo specifically to the client's needs. This reduces the time required while increasing the effectiveness of the interaction, which in turn drives sales and enhances customer satisfaction.”
As I mentioned at the top of this article, time is one of the most — if not the most — precious resources you have in sales, but it can be just as easy to waste it as it is to capitalize on it. Hopefully, this article gives you valuable perspective on what you might be doing wrong and how you can adapt to ensure you're getting as much out of your efforts as possible.
Free Workplace Productivity Guide
Stop procrastinating! Boost your productivity with this free kit.
- Free Productivity Guide
- PIE Scoring Template
- Labor Hours Calculator
- And more!
Download Free
All fields are required.
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