The 3-minute morning routine for field sales reps
A 3-minute morning routine that sets up a field sales rep's entire day. What to do in minutes one through three — and what to stop doing.
A good morning routine is the cheapest productivity upgrade available to a field sales rep. Most reps start their day by opening email — which is a mistake. Email puts you in reactive mode, answering other people's priorities before you've set your own. There's a better three-minute routine.
Minute one: close yesterday's loose ends
Open your field sales CRM (or notes app) and look at every meeting from yesterday. For each one, ask one question:
> Is there a follow-up that isn't on the calendar yet?
If yes, send it now. Not a long email — a 60-second "great meeting, sending the spec sheet today, let's reconnect Tuesday" kind of note. Short beats perfect.
Minute two: set today's opening move
Look at your first meeting. Before driving, pull up that company's notes. Ask yourself one line:
> What do I need from today's conversation?
Budget? Timeline? Introduction to a decision-maker? A demo slot? If you can't answer that in one sentence, it's an update call, not a selling call — and you should rework it or reschedule it.
Minute three: sanity-check the route
Look at your route. If your stops aren't in a logical sequence, fix it now.
Every extra 15 minutes of windshield time costs you a buying signal somewhere. Resequencing is free. Driving is not.
What not to do in the first 30 minutes
A short stop-doing list that most reps find harder than the rest:
- Don't open email
- Don't open Slack
- Don't read the news
- Don't check LinkedIn
Those will still be there at 9:30. Once you've hit the road with a plan, you've won the morning. Everything else is cleanup.