Episode #2 – Maha Esmat

Time management isn’t just a personal productivity hack; it’s a powerful sales advantage. Maha Esmatt, Global Service Channel Operations Manager at ABB Motion Services, joins me to explore how intentional time management transforms not only individual performance but also customer relationships and business outcomes. Drawing on Maha’s international experience in automation and her operational leadership across Egypt, the UAE, and Canada, this episode offers practical strategies, actionable tools, and the mindset necessary to thrive in today’s fast-paced sales environment.

This episode is all about mastering time management and boosting productivity in sales. Maha shares her holistic approach to prioritizing tasks, eliminating distractions, and leveraging technology, including AI tools, to focus on what truly matters: building client trust and driving results. She also opens up about her own real-world experiences, the power of structured planning, and her top dos and don’ts for sales professionals wanting to sharpen their time management skills.

Outline of This Episode

• [00:00] Why time management is critical in sales.
• [05:16] Structured weekly and daily focus.
• [06:46] Aligning priorities over urgencies.
• [12:30] AI-powered meeting tool insights.
• [15:58] AI: adapt or be replaced.
• [19:35] Time management builds trust.
• [20:51] Changing sales perceptions.

Why Time Management Matters in Sales

Time management is the difference between being busy and being effective. In sales, where time is one of the most limited and valuable resources, mastering how you allocate it can be your greatest competitive advantage. Productive selling means being intentional and focusing on activities that build trust, solve problems, and drive revenue. Maha shares a formative experience from early in her career, where managing a heavy load of service orders across multiple accounts taught her that discipline with time not only brings internal efficiency but also creates an experience of reliability for customers, a key ingredient for winning repeat business.

Common Pitfalls and Time Wasters

Many sales professionals fall into the trap of mistaking motion for progress, characterized by packed calendars, endless meetings, and incessant email checking. Maha highlights research showing that reps spend less than 30% of their time actually selling; the rest is lost to low-value activities. This tendency stems from a desire to be responsive, but without structure, responsiveness devolves into chaos.

Develop clarity around what truly drives results and protect those activities. Prioritize needle-moving tasks and don’t let busyness disguise itself as productivity.

Structuring Your Day for Maximum Impact

Maha shares her weekly and daily routine for staying focused amid urgent requests and changing priorities. Every Sunday, she sits down to set weekly goals, her “must-achieve” objectives. Each day, she blocks off time for her “most important tasks” (MITs), treating those blocks as non-negotiable meetings. This structured approach ensures that surprises or last-minute requests don’t derail her priorities.

She credits time management pioneer Alan Lakein’s advice, asking, “What is the best use of my time right now?”, to help stay focused on what truly matters.

Strategies to Overcome Digital Distractions

With endless notifications, emails, and multitasking opportunities, digital distractions are a major productivity drain. Maha’s quarterly alignment check-ins with management ensure that her work remains focused on strategic priorities. She emphasizes separating urgency from true priority; urgent tasks may scream for attention, but it’s priority tasks that deliver impact.

Implementing the “4D method”, Do it, Delegate it, Defer it, Delete it, enables her to handle requests efficiently. Her mantra is simple: just because a task lands on your desk doesn’t mean you must do it.

Tech Tools and the AI Advantage

Technology, particularly AI, is revolutionizing time management in sales. Maha uses digital calendars and dashboards for visibility and relies on AI tools to automate repetitive tasks like meeting follow-ups and CRM updates. She describes a colleague using Plod, a device that records and transcribes meetings in real-time, then integrates with AI for automatic notes and follow-ups.

Maha also designed an AI assistant, her “digital twin”, that provides channel management guidance to local teams, saving countless repetitive communications.

It isn’t about having more tools, but the right ones that give you back time for impactful work, like customer engagement and strategic planning.

Time Management Builds Trust

Maha’s structured approach to managing customer escalations led a major client to renew its service contract after experiencing newfound reliability. The lesson is clear: effective time management builds trust, and trust drives sales results.

In sales, how you spend your time directly impacts your success, relationships, and reputation. By embracing structure, leveraging the right tools, and focusing relentlessly on value-driving activities, sales professionals can transform productivity into meaningful impact, both for themselves and their customers. As Maha’s journey shows, mastering time management isn’t just good for business; it’s a skill to be proud of.

Connect with Maha Esmat

• Maha Esmat on LinkedIn

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Learn More About Maha Esmat

1. What was the pivotal moment in your career when you realized the impact of time management on sales performance?

Early in my project management career, I was handling 80 to 100 service orders across 20 accounts in Ontario and Mexico. In service, time is everything: scheduling engineers, processing invoices, and securing materials. Staying organized built trust with customers, which translated directly into stronger relationships and better sales performance. That’s when I learned time management isn’t just personal efficiency, it’s a sales advantage.

2. Can you share a specific instance where improving your time management directly contributed to closing a big deal or achieving a significant goal?

When a key customer was considering whether to renew a service contract, I implemented a 24-hour response rule and dedicated time blocks for their escalations. The improved responsiveness turned their perception around, and they renewed the contract. That experience showed me that disciplined time management can be the deciding factor in winning business.

3. What has been the most challenging period in balancing competing priorities, and what habits or strategies helped you turn it around?

For me, Q4 is always the most challenging period. As a Global Service Channels Operations Manager, long-term projects all come to a head at year-end. That means managing stakeholders, aligning deliverables, and checking with management on which priorities still match the company’s strategic vision. At the same time, personal schedules restart with school, family activities, and new routines.

The key has been alignment and discipline, clarifying priorities early, time-blocking deep work, and reflecting weekly on progress. These habits allow me to balance business impact with personal commitments and finish the year strong.

4. What are your top three must-have habits, tools, or techniques for staying productive and managing your time effectively in sales?

1. Define MITs (Most Important Tasks): Start the day by identifying the top 2 to 3 outcomes.
2. Batch & Automate: Group emails, calls, and admin work; use AI tools to automate routine tasks.
3. Build Buffers: Add 15 to 20 minutes between meetings to stay sharp and avoid burnout.

These habits protect my energy and ensure I’m moving the needle on the right priorities.

5. With remote work, virtual meetings, and 24/7 connectivity becoming the norm, how do you see time management evolving in the future?

The future of time management is about smarter, not longer, work. AI will increasingly take over admin tasks like proposals and call summaries, freeing salespeople to focus on customers. But with constant connectivity, boundaries will be critical. Sales professionals who thrive will combine technology with intentional focus and digital discipline.

6. What are some simple but powerful time management practices that most sales professionals overlook?

1. Design your calendar, don’t just fill it. Proactively block time for strategic work.
2. Sunday goal check. Define your “must-achieve goals” each Sunday to start the week with clarity.
3. End-of-day ritual. Spend 10 minutes wrapping up and planning tomorrow.
4. Two-minute rule. If it takes less than two minutes, do it immediately.
5. The 4D Method. For every task: Do it, Delegate it, Defer it, or Delete it.

These small but powerful practices reduce noise, prevent overwhelm, and keep you focused on what truly matters: consistency that customers notice and trust.