High performers do this instead of admin work

Key takeaways

• The leader’s first job is removing internal bureaucracy so reps can hunt or farm, not adding activity targets on top of it.

• Uncertainty breeds admin. A rep who doesn’t know their next step drifts to the comfortable task. Data entry beats a hard client conversation every time.

• The freed hours go to cold-call blocks, moments created for prospects, thought leadership, and feeding customer insight back to product. None of that is admin.

• The no-tool action for a sales leader: map your top performer’s week against a low performer’s week, and remove the difference.

• Accountability still matters. A customer relationship management (CRM) system nobody updates is a forecast nobody can trust. Do the admin that powers selling, not the admin that proves you’re busy.

• The hardest thing to automate is the list for a morning call block. Solve personalised list building and most of the admin problem goes with it.

60 percent of a sales rep’s time is not actually spent selling. That’s concerning, right?

Regan Barker, co-founder, Ricavi

If you don’t know your next step, you’re going to spend more time where you’re comfortable. If you know data entry but you don’t know how to have a difficult conversation, you’ll do the data entry.

Regan Barker, co-founder, Ricavi

Where does a rep’s week actually go?

Prospecting lists, data entry, post-call documents, and proving to a manager that work happened. Regan Barker calls the 60 percent figure the most offensive stat she has seen. David Fastuca does the arithmetic: on a $200,000 package, a large chunk of that salary buys non-revenue activity, and it multiplies across every seat on the team.

The instinct is to demand more calls. Regan argues for the opposite. Step back and look at the whole engine like a Formula 1 car. Where’s the 1 percent efficiency? Usually it’s in the bureaucracy the company built around the rep, not in the rep.

What would a 5 percent admin week look like?

Time-blocked cold calling. Curated moments for prospects. Webinars and events where the team shares what it knows. Customer feedback loops that make the product better. Deals moving through pipeline at stages that are true, because discovery and diagnosis got the attention they deserve. Regan concedes 5 percent is aggressive once you factor in the list building that personalisation needs. The direction still holds.

There’s a subtler point underneath. Reps hide in admin when they don’t know what to do next. Give them a clear next action on every deal and the avoidance shrinks on its own. That’s the design principle behind Ricavi’s morning briefing, and it’s also just good management.

What can a leader do this week, without a new tool?

Map it. Look at what your highest performer actually does with a day and compare it with someone struggling. Luigi Prestinenzi, in David’s telling, drops admin entirely when he’s locked on a client. That comes from confidence and capability, and it shows you what the rest of the team could stop doing. Then set a standard for the admin that matters, keep the CRM honest, and cut everything else.

Questions this episode answers

How much of a sales rep’s time is spent selling?

About 40 percent, per the Salesforce research discussed on the episode. The rest goes to prospecting-list building, data entry, and reporting.

What’s a realistic admin target for a sales team?

The hosts debate 5 percent against 10 to 15. The number matters less than the direction: automate entry, remove metrics that don’t link to outcomes, and make next actions clear.

What’s the fastest way to cut sales admin?

Compare your top performer’s week to a low performer’s and remove the difference. Then automate CRM updates and list building, which is where most of the time goes.