Most salespeople spend only 10 percent of their available time actually selling, according to a study made by Proudfoot Consulting, cited by Business Opportunities Weblog.

According to the study, sales representatives spend their time as follows:

• Active selling – 10%
• Prospecting – 10%
• Problem Solving – 14%
• Downtime (e.g., personal phone calls and e-mails) – 17%
• Travel time – 18%
• Administration – 31%

Also, the biggest barriers to sales people’s effectiveness were found to be:

• Lack of manager feedback or help for sales teams
• Poor sales call quality and inadequate monitoring
• Weak or cumbersome sales reporting systems
• Training that was seldom reinforced or properly coached in the field