Pretty much, the 3 days I need to be in Boston every week, I'm in the car at the NH beach at 4:00 AM for the 59-minute drive at an average 61 mph (with a powerful radar detector) to Boston. With the wicked Boston traffic, if I were to leave at 5:30, it would take 2 hours mostly at 15 mph on 93.
I start my day in the gym at 5:30 on the treadmill reading the WSJ, and yesterday, I read this Interesting article about the shortage of AI expertise and that workers in Silicon Valley are pushing themselves to extremes. Since counting time and figuring out the math of Sales is one of my passions, I looked back at the data that we've collected over the last 10 years on the number of hours that the top performing salespeople work.
But first, I went to CoPilot to ask the question on "Top Performing B2B Salespeople" and got this:
CoPilot: Industry Benchmarks
- General B2B Sales Reps: Most sales professionals report working over 40 hours per week, with about 63% regularly exceeding that threshold. A small but notable group works 60+ hours weekly, often in high-pressure or quota-driven roles. [pipedrive.com]
- Outside Sales Reps: Time studies show an average of 48 hours per week, including breaks, for outside reps. Only about 22% of that time is spent actively selling, with the rest consumed by prospecting, admin tasks, and travel. [getmoredone.com]
- Top Performers: LinkedIn and Salesforce data indicate that elite salespeople invest 18% more time in CRM updates and research than average reps, which often pushes their total workweek beyond standard hours. [salesgenie.com]
Although I "like" CoPilot, I "love" Claude, and as expected, he came back with much more relevant data:
Claude: Industry benchmarks
Sales reps typically work between 40-60 hours per week, with the average being around 47 hours time-studySPOTIO. Sales managers tend to work slightly longer, averaging about 50 hours per week time-study.
- Top Performers: A Split Picture; data reveals an interesting divide among top-rated performers:
- The Grinders: Some top 5% sales reps work 70 hours a week, using sheer volume as part of their success formula SaaStr.
- The Efficiency Experts: Other top 5% reps are so efficient and practiced that they accomplish in 20 hours (or even 15 hours) what takes others 60 hours to do SaaStr.
The problem isn't just total hours—it's how those hours are used. B2B salespeople spend only 33% of their time actually selling, with the other 66% consumed by internal processes, administration, and meetings Momentum. In an 8-hour day, the typical rep spends just 90 minutes actively selling LinkedIn.
Bottom line: Top performers either put in significantly more hours OR they're ruthlessly efficient at maximizing actual selling time. The most successful reps focus intensely on the four core activities: finding qualified prospects, determining needs, offering solutions, and closing sales.
10 Years of Derby Management Data
- "A"-level B2B Salespeople typically work 60–65 hours per week. After accounting for vacations, holidays, and non-productive time, this translates to about 2,352 “available” hours annually, of which roughly 61% is spent on selling or sales prep. That equals ~1,300 effective selling hours per year.
- Efficiency gains from structured processes and CRM fluency can reclaim 15–20% of wasted time, adding 30–60 hours per month back into selling activities.
What's It All Mean
- Right now, count the remaining days in the Q, including today, and I believe that you will find we have 39 or 40 effective days in which to sell. In your count, take a careful look at where Thanksgiving and Christmas fall from the vacation view of your prospects, not yours.
- Plan out every week two weeks ahead, a day at a time, and block out "the money hours".
- Get rid of...politely of course...the detractors who can easily burn up your time...whether that's your boss or that one "B"-level colleague who just wants to talk!
- FOCUS on the right personas in the targeted companies in the right geographies with the tools given you by Marketing. If you don't feel that you have those tools, go to Marketing Monday morning and let them know exactly what you need. They are excellent at tool creation and value propositons, while we, as salespeople, are not.
Have a great day selling today!
It's time to begin your business planning for what lies ahead in 2026.
Think about taking a half day in November to begin your business and sales planning process for 2026. Here's our free how-to ebooks for a few ideas:
"Writing the Winning Sales Plan"
"Writing the Winning Business Plan"
"Writing the Winning Marketing Plan"
"The Marketing of Me"
We outline ideas on structure, models, process funnels, productivity tools and how to recruit, hire and onboard the best people. A few hands-on guides for real managers written by real managers with their fingers in the dirt.
Connect with me any time at jack@derbymanagement.com and let's discuss your own 2026 planning!
