A conversation I had with a friend, who is an outside sales rep for a medical supplies distributor, reveals the way many salespeople feel today.

"The best thing about my job is actually sitting down with customers," he told me. "Unfortunately, most of the time I'm doing paperwork."

He also complained that in a recent evaluation, he was judged as much on his organizational abilities as his sales volume.

He's not alone. Many salespeople, particularly those who have been selling for many years, remember when they had sales assistants to help them draft letters and offer administrative support. That isn't the case today.

Mercer Consulting conducted a study last fall in which it analyzed the day-to-day activities of sales reps at a particular company. They found that those salespeople spent one-third of their time, roughly 12 hours per week, actually selling. By streamlining and reassigning order-entry, lead qualification and appointment-setting processes, these reps added three hours of face-to-face selling time to their schedules, substantially increasing sales revenues.

Ironically, sales managers say they want outside salespeople to spend more time with customers in face-to-face meetings. Yet in many cases, salespeople say they're too tied up with paperwork to do so. You have to ask: Is this the salesperson's fault? In some cases, yes. Many salespeople don't use PDAs, contact management programs, and other technologies to keep them better organized and more productive.

At the same time, managers need to examine the reports they want created. Are they all necessary? And it doesn't end with paperwork. Some distributors are using outside salespeople to be "collectors" for accounts receivable and late payers. So, while distributors may be selling to these accounts one day, weeks later they are acting as the credit department watchdogs. A strange twist, to say the least.

One distributor who doesn't use salespeople for that purpose tells us (p. 43) that salespeople and credit managers are "two totally and distinct separate people, and you don't want to jeopardize the sales relationship." We believe that's the right approach.

Regardless, salespeople aren't spending enough time selling. And that's not right.

jkeough@reedbusiness.com