How to have hyper-productive mornings

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If how your day starts determines how your day ends, hitting the ground running is critical to your success.

This week, we’re breaking down four pillars of a successful morning routine for sales teams. Today, we’re diving into why sales leaders are hyper-focused on starting their days attacking their most-immediate priorities, and why you should be too.

Plus, we’ll share our personal recommendations for what your most-immediate priorities should be as an originator—especially in rising rate markets, like the one we’re entering at the time this installment was released.

Why your morning routine should create space for your top priorities, and make everything else wait

If we look at the bigger picture, it’s clear that we don’t fully control our own productivity. Our biology, the people around us, technology, and so many other external forces can aid or detract our ability to hone in on the task at-hand.

For many of us, being productive more often feels like playing defense than offense—blocking out distractions, combatting tiredness, or fighting for control over a wandering mind.

But what if we flipped the script, and offensively carved out time and space on our calendar—every day—to attack our Success Lists and Keystones? How much would it really cost us if stepped into our (home) office at the same time every morning, set our out-of-office, and sent non-emergency calls to voicemail?

Maybe not as much as we might think. In fact, it might not cost us anything at all. It might actually gain us something.

So let’s get down to brass tacks. How do sales leaders structure their mornings to be hyper-productive? How can we replicate that hyper-productivity\in our lives? And what can an offensive morning routine make possible for our careers and personal lives?

How sales leaders have hyper-productive mornings, day after day

They start their morning rested, with clear objectives for the day

First and foremost, sales leaders make the most of their mornings by making themes of their evenings. As we shared in this installment, sales leaders take time the previous day to think through their goals, re-prioritize their tasks and activities (T&As), and get a good night’s sleep to start the rested, prepared, and clear on the day’s most-important objectives.

They hydrate

It may seem insignificant, but a majority of the sales leaders whose morning routines we learnt from started the day with a healthy dose of hydration. Take it for what you will, but we recommend starting the morning with a 16-32oz glass of water.

They exercise

Nearly every sales leader whose morning routine we reviewed incorporated exercise into their morning routine. Some were more focused on cardio, others \lifting weight or functional fitness, and still others yoga and deep breathing. So if you don’t already exercise daily, we recommend starting small to find what works best for your routine.

They start work proactively, not reactively

Depending on roles and responsibilities, this looked different across sales leaders’ morning routines, but the principle held true: sales leaders use the first hours of their day to proactively work on important projects, communicate with clients or stakeholders, or creatively envision their next big move.

So, as a busy sales person, how can you incorporate these habits to make your mornings hyper-productive?

Remember, morning routines are incredibly personal—there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. But, finding ways to replicate successful habits like the ones above into your routine could make the difference between running your day, or letting your day run you.

Here are our suggestions for what to implement into your morning routine, ASAP:

Get motivated

In the first hour after waking, while your brain is still shutting off its melatonin dump from the night before, we recommend focusing on getting yourself motivated and exited for the day. Read an inspirational biography, listen to a motivating podcast, create or review a vision board for your life and career, or take time to reinforce your talents and work ethic with positive self-talk.

Get prepared

On the commute or as soon as you get to your (home) office, warm up your sales pitches for the day. Think through client scenarios, anticipated objections, and the solutions you plan to offer that day.

Then get with a colleague or manager and ask to role-play the most important conversations you plan to have that day.

Finally, review your call and T&A queues, making any last-minute adjustments to ensure your working in order from most-to-least important, all day.

Get selling

As Dale Vermillion might be infamous for saying, if you want to be a top producer:

Sell early, sell often.

If you’ve taken the time and put in the work throughout your morning to hit the phones rested, prepared, and confident—we guarantee you will close more loans, and ultimately serve more people seeking trustworthy advice for one of the largest, most-personal financial decisions they will ever make.

Better for more than just your moth-end results

While there are so many benefits to developing and executing an effective morning routine, keep in mind that it’s not just all about business. Sales leaders who have found a routine that works for them claim to be happier, feel a greater sense of worth and accomplishment, and spend less time at the office salvaging deals and putting fires, and more time with the people they love and doing the things they enjoy most.