MOST Analysis

Mission Statement

Selling is essential in any leadership role – whether you are selling a product, service, concept or yourself. There is a new way of selling – one where you can sell authentically by “serving” not selling. Discover how to master the sales conversation without feeling icky about it. Learn the S.E.R.V.E. Sales Success Formula for selling authentically with ease. Discover how you can inspire your ideal clients to say YES to taking action/working with you – closing sales like it’s second nature. You will have the opportunity to practice your skills by role playing with your fellow participants to ensure you have mastered the S.E.R.V.E. Sales Success Formula.

---

Objectives

01. History of Sales: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
02. Selling Principals: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
03. Psychology of Sales : departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
04. Women in Sales: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
05. Pain to Solution: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
06. Research and Prioritize: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
07. Use Storytelling: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. 1 Month
08. Building Trust: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
09. S.E.R.V.E Formula: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
10. Easeful Follow Up: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
11. Handling Objections: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
12. Selling Confidently: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month

---

Strategies

01. History of Sales: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
02. Selling Principals: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
03. Psychology of Sales : Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
04. Women in Sales: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
05. Pain to Solution: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
06. Research and Prioritize: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
07. Use Storytelling: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
08. Building Trust: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
09. S.E.R.V.E Formula: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
10. Easeful Follow Up: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
11. Handling Objections: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
12. Selling Confidently: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.

---

Tasks

01. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze History of Sales.
02. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Selling Principals.
03. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Psychology of Sales .
04. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Women in Sales.
05. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Pain to Solution.
06. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Research and Prioritize.
07. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Use Storytelling.
08. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Building Trust.
09. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze S.E.R.V.E Formula.
10. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Easeful Follow Up.
11. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Handling Objections.
12. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Selling Confidently.

---

Introduction

---

Authenticity is the most important virtue salespeople can demonstrate in today’s selling environment, even if it means showing your hand earlier than you would in a poker game.

The old world: One-way information flow from seller to buyer.

Previously, salespeople largely controlled the flow of information in the buyer-seller relationship. Buyers were forced to rely on salespeople to provide the information they required to make purchasing decisions, including pricing, product specifications, and customer evidence.

The old sales world was like a high stakes poker table, with buyers and sellers wearing dark sunglasses and headphones to avoid tipping their hand. Negotiations were disjointed, trust was low, and these processes frequently resulted in buyer’s or seller’s remorse.

If you’ve tried to buy software in the last two decades, you’ve probably encountered the old world of sales. As a buyer, you were most likely greeted with something along the lines of:

“Are you interested in our product?” Please complete this contact form, and a sales representative will contact you within the next 5-10 business days.”

That was the status quo – buyers were expected to provide a laundry list of information about their company without providing any insight into critical questions such as:

• Will this product be useful to me and my team?

• How much time and effort will it take for me to see any benefit?

• How much will purchasing this product actually cost me?

As business professionals, we understand how this information gap benefits salespeople by giving them more control and leverage over a deal. It’s the same advantage you have in poker when an opponent is unaware of your hand, and you can take advantage of the situation to your advantage.

This one-sided relationship does not lead to a win-win opportunity. Customers were at the mercy of salespeople in the old world of sales, making questions like “Is the sales rep telling me the whole story?” or “Am I getting a good deal?” impossible to answer. Bluffing is entertaining in poker, but less so in business.

The new world: A two-way conversation between buyers and sellers.

Thank goodness that the buyer-seller dynamic has shifted dramatically in recent years. We’ve progressed from buyers and salespeople keeping their cards close to their chest to both parties laying their cards on the table. This is primarily due to two factors:

1. Buyers are much more educated these days due to an unlimited access to information at their fingertips.

2. Buyers want to buy from an individual/company that they know, like and trust.

To add value, we need to go beyond product information and walkthroughs.

In my experience, we must first be authentic, which means removing our poker face in favor of a friendly smile. Buyers today expect candid and transparent conversations, and our goal as salespeople should be to create a mutually beneficial partnership with our customers. Being more transparent as a salesperson may be unsettling at first, especially if you were taught to keep your cards close to your chest, but the benefits of being transparent and authentic outweigh the discomfort.

Males have traditionally dominated the sales industry. Women are still underrepresented today. According to a 2014 study conducted by law firm Fenwick & West LLP, women held only 11.7% of senior sales executive positions among Silicon Valley’s 150 largest companies.

When it comes to pay, women are also at a disadvantage. Female salespeople are paid 63 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts. Oracle Corporation is one of several companies that have been sued for allegedly paying male sales representatives more than female sales representatives.

“Why aren’t there more women in sales?”

The real question is, “Why do we need more female salespeople?”

1. Women Are Good at Sales

First and foremost, women are excellent salespeople. According to HubSpot, women are 5% more likely than men to close a deal.

Furthermore, Professor Joel Le Bon of the University of Houston’s Bauer College of Business Sales Excellence Institute examined the sales performance of his 989 students over a seven-year period. The findings revealed that female top performers outnumbered male top performers by 62.5%. In addition, female top performers outperformed male top performers by 73.9%.

2. Women Can Improve Your Bottom Line

A diverse set of perspectives, ideas, and backgrounds benefits your bottom line.

Let the numbers speak for themselves on this one. According to a University of Illinois at Chicago study, companies with greater gender diversity are 15% more likely to profit. Furthermore, companies with a higher proportion of female board directors have a 42% higher return on sales than companies with a lower proportion of female board directors.

3. Women Can Help You Improve Your Customer Connection

Not only will having women on your sales teams benefit your bottom line, but it will also help you connect with your customers more effectively. To approach customers with empathy, your sales force should reflect the diversity of your customer base. Peak Sales Recruiting puts it succinctly:

“A more diverse sales force is also more likely to reflect the make-up of customer organizations and to have representatives who can connect and cultivate strong relationships with a diverse customer base.” If everyone in the sales organization looks the same and has similar experiences and points of view, they may struggle to find common ground with customers and prospects.

Women have traits and skills that make them natural salespeople, such as the ability to build trust, nurture relationships, listen, and make recommendations.

Let’s face it selling is difficult. It’s not for the faint of heart, and it takes the right selling approach to be truly successful.

Even though many are women are designed to be great salespeople they frequently struggle with sales due to lack of confidence.

Building your confidence in sales is an often-overlooked key to becoming a great seller.

In fact, you will never be able to sell effectively unless you develop sales confidence. It is absolutely essential for your success.

Confidence in sales means closing sales, building rapport with prospects, and demonstrating the value of your offering.

Prospects will begin to think, “They don’t need me, but I definitely need them,” when you have genuine sales confidence.

Studies show that only 31% of salespeople effectively communicate with senior executives.

This is due to the fact that the majority of salespeople lack the confidence to sell at a higher level.

When you gain confidence in sales, you will be perceived as a trusted advisor who provides genuine value to prospects.

In the Authentic Selling Workshop, we reveal a new way of selling – one where you can sell authentically by “serving” not selling.

You’ll learn relationship selling principles, solution focused selling techniques, how to research and prioritize leads, build trust with your prospects, and how to overcome any objections. You’ll also discover how to master the sales conversation without feeling icky about it. Learn the S.E.R.V.E. Sales Success Formula for selling authentically with ease. Discover how you can inspire your ideal clients to say YES to taking action/working with you – closing sales like it’s second nature. You will have the opportunity to practice your skills by role playing with your fellow participants to ensure you have mastered the S.E.R.V.E. Sales Success Formula.

This workshop provides all of the skills and tools necessary to become a highly confident salesperson.

---

Executive Summary

While selling is inextricably linked to the concept of a transactional relationship, it does not have to feel icky or cheap. It can be both inspiring and authentic.

Everyone is a salesperson.

• Interviewing for your dream job is a sales process.
• Attracting investors for a project your developing is a sales process.
• Even dating and starting a new personal relationship is a sales process.

A lot of us decide that we’re terrible at selling. It’s usually because we are fearful of the thought of selling. We are afraid because we feel like we have to become someone else.

The truth is selling is nothing more than an energy exchange between conscious beings. Which means you can be yourself.

Authentic selling is the new way of selling.

What exactly is authentic selling? Doing something authentically means acting in accordance with your values. In sales, it means recognizing the factors that align your values with those of your prospects resulting in a sale.

In other words, offering a product or service that addresses the needs (pain points) or desires of your ideal client and offering a solution.

When you’re selling authentically it means you’re focus is on serving not selling.

If you truly believe in your product or service, you can transform into a supercharged sales machine.

Once you understand the real motivation behind your sales transactions – which is wanting to help your prospect get what they want selling becomes much easier.

If you work hard to develop your own authentic selling style and learn specific skills and authentic selling techniques your efforts will be handsomely rewarded with increased trust, increased customer loyalty, and increased sales.

In the Authentic Selling workshop, we’ll equip you and your team with all of the skills and tools necessary to become a confident salesperson.

There are 12 courses (or focus areas) in the Authentic Selling Workshop that will assist in acquiring these skills.

Here’s what we’ll be covering:

1.History of Sales: It’s important to understand the background and the evolution of sales in order to master it. In this first lesson, we dig deep on what selling consists of and how it has changes over the years and what we can do to adapt.

2.Selling Principles: What characteristics distinguishes a great salesperson? Many sales leaders are asking themselves this question as they navigate today’s rapidly changing sales landscape while adhering to their selling principles. In this course, we discover the 10 relationship selling principles and how to adopt them in your sales practice.

3.Psychology of Sales: Do you have any personality traits that assist you in selling? The truth is that how a salesperson perceives themselves is also critical. We’ll begin by reviewing some of the fundamental principles of how psychology is used in sales, we will discover the 7 psychological triggers to increase sales. Then, we’ll learn about relationship selling and how sales is similar to therapy.

4.Women in Sales: Sales has historically been a male-dominated profession. However, women have come a long way in the sales industry, and some have even dominated. In this lesson we will identify the 4 key characteristics of today’s stellar saleswomen. We will also learn insights and best practices from several woman sales leaders.

5.Pain to Solution: In this course, we’ll look at customer pain points, specifically what they are and how you can position your company as a potential solution. We’ll look at several real-world examples to see how marketers address some of the most common customer pain points, as well as general advice on how to make yourself indispensable to your prospects at the right time and in the right place by using the 5 key solution focused techniques.

6.Researching and Prioritizing: Whether you work in a small or large company, you need good prospect research in order to identify your ideal target clients. In this lesson, we will go deep on how to research potential ideal customers effectively and efficiently and then how to best prioritize your leads.

7.Use Storytelling: Storytelling in sales conversations is a terrific way to build rapport, trust, and relatability with your potential clients. When you share stories effectively, your ideal client will remember what you share, making it easier for them to make a purchasing decision. In this course, we will reveal 3 reasons why stories are so powerful in sales, and we’ll identify 5 ways to incorporate storytelling in your sales strategy.

8.Build Trust: Gaining the trust of prospects is critical to sales success. Selling is a people-oriented business that necessitates a customer-centric sales approach. Person-to-person sales are made through dialogue. In this lesson, you’ll learn the science behind building trust, along with 5 tips to gain your clients trust.

9.S.E.R.V.E. Formula: Women tend to overcomplicate sales leaving them with negative beliefs about the sales process. Using an authentic sales process will help to eliminate this challenge. Authenticity is a powerful tool for forging genuine connections with your audience and building trust. In this course, we reveal a powerful proven sales formula called the S.E.R.V.E Sales Success Formula which is an authentic selling process that will inspire your prospects to say YES to doing business with you. You and your team will have an opportunity to put the process into action with powerful roleplay exercise.

10.Easeful Follow Up: Understanding the follow-up process can help you understand how to keep potential customers engaged and persuade them to buy a service or product from your company. In this lesson, we define follow-up calls, explain why they are important. We will walk you through how to make an effective sales follow-up call using our effective 8 step Follow-Up Process. You’ll also get access to some helpful tips for connecting with customers.

11.Handling Objections: You can effectively handle just about any objection if you are prepared and know what the most common objections are. Potential buyers may make excuses or deviate from the sales process, and the response is to handle these objections. Learn to handle objections with truthful facts that do not put your customer on the defensive if you want to succeed as a salesperson. This course will go over objection handling, its significance, and objection handling techniques that you can easily implement into your sales practice.

12.Selling Confidently: The importance of sales confidence cannot be overstated. You can know everything there is to know about your product and have extensive experience in the field, but if potential buyers do not perceive you as confident, you will fail. Customers will not trust you if you don’t know how to sell confidently. But how do you gain confidence if it doesn’t come naturally? In this course, we’ll show you how to become a confident salesperson who can present their offer powerfully and even handle any objection with conviction and unwavering self-confidence.

---

Curriculum

Women Empowerment – Workshop 13 – Authentic Selling

1. History of Sales
2. Selling Principals
3. Psychology of Sales
4. Women in Sales
5. Pain to Solution
6. Research and Prioritize
7. Use Storytelling
8. Building Trust
9. S.E.R.V.E Formula
10. Easeful Follow Up
11. Handling Objections
12. Selling Confidently

---

Distance Learning

Introduction

Welcome to Appleton Greene and thank you for enrolling on the Women Empowerment corporate training program. You will be learning through our unique facilitation via distance-learning method, which will enable you to practically implement everything that you learn academically. The methods and materials used in your program have been designed and developed to ensure that you derive the maximum benefits and enjoyment possible. We hope that you find the program challenging and fun to do. However, if you have never been a distance-learner before, you may be experiencing some trepidation at the task before you. So we will get you started by giving you some basic information and guidance on how you can make the best use of the modules, how you should manage the materials and what you should be doing as you work through them. This guide is designed to point you in the right direction and help you to become an effective distance-learner. Take a few hours or so to study this guide and your guide to tutorial support for students, while making notes, before you start to study in earnest.

Study environment

You will need to locate a quiet and private place to study, preferably a room where you can easily be isolated from external disturbances or distractions. Make sure the room is well-lit and incorporates a relaxed, pleasant feel. If you can spoil yourself within your study environment, you will have much more of a chance to ensure that you are always in the right frame of mind when you do devote time to study. For example, a nice fire, the ability to play soft soothing background music, soft but effective lighting, perhaps a nice view if possible and a good size desk with a comfortable chair. Make sure that your family know when you are studying and understand your study rules. Your study environment is very important. The ideal situation, if at all possible, is to have a separate study, which can be devoted to you. If this is not possible then you will need to pay a lot more attention to developing and managing your study schedule, because it will affect other people as well as yourself. The better your study environment, the more productive you will be.

Study tools & rules

Try and make sure that your study tools are sufficient and in good working order. You will need to have access to a computer, scanner and printer, with access to the internet. You will need a very comfortable chair, which supports your lower back, and you will need a good filing system. It can be very frustrating if you are spending valuable study time trying to fix study tools that are unreliable, or unsuitable for the task. Make sure that your study tools are up to date. You will also need to consider some study rules. Some of these rules will apply to you and will be intended to help you to be more disciplined about when and how you study. This distance-learning guide will help you and after you have read it you can put some thought into what your study rules should be. You will also need to negotiate some study rules for your family, friends or anyone who lives with you. They too will need to be disciplined in order to ensure that they can support you while you study. It is important to ensure that your family and friends are an integral part of your study team. Having their support and encouragement can prove to be a crucial contribution to your successful completion of the program. Involve them in as much as you can.

Successful distance-learning

Distance-learners are freed from the necessity of attending regular classes or workshops, since they can study in their own way, at their own pace and for their own purposes. But unlike traditional internal training courses, it is the student’s responsibility, with a distance-learning program, to ensure that they manage their own study contribution. This requires strong self-discipline and self-motivation skills and there must be a clear will to succeed. Those students who are used to managing themselves, are good at managing others and who enjoy working in isolation, are more likely to be good distance-learners. It is also important to be aware of the main reasons why you are studying and of the main objectives that you are hoping to achieve as a result. You will need to remind yourself of these objectives at times when you need to motivate yourself. Never lose sight of your long-term goals and your short-term objectives. There is nobody available here to pamper you, or to look after you, or to spoon-feed you with information, so you will need to find ways to encourage and appreciate yourself while you are studying. Make sure that you chart your study progress, so that you can be sure of your achievements and re-evaluate your goals and objectives regularly.

Self-assessment

Appleton Greene training programs are in all cases post-graduate programs. Consequently, you should already have obtained a business-related degree and be an experienced learner. You should therefore already be aware of your study strengths and weaknesses. For example, which time of the day are you at your most productive? Are you a lark or an owl? What study methods do you respond to the most? Are you a consistent learner? How do you discipline yourself? How do you ensure that you enjoy yourself while studying? It is important to understand yourself as a learner and so some self-assessment early on will be necessary if you are to apply yourself correctly. Perform a SWOT analysis on yourself as a student. List your internal strengths and weaknesses as a student and your external opportunities and threats. This will help you later on when you are creating a study plan. You can then incorporate features within your study plan that can ensure that you are playing to your strengths, while compensating for your weaknesses. You can also ensure that you make the most of your opportunities, while avoiding the potential threats to your success.

Accepting responsibility as a student

Training programs invariably require a significant investment, both in terms of what they cost and in the time that you need to contribute to study and the responsibility for successful completion of training programs rests entirely with the student. This is never more apparent than when a student is learning via distance-learning. Accepting responsibility as a student is an important step towards ensuring that you can successfully complete your training program. It is easy to instantly blame other people or factors when things go wrong. But the fact of the matter is that if a failure is your failure, then you have the power to do something about it, it is entirely in your own hands. If it is always someone else’s failure, then you are powerless to do anything about it. All students study in entirely different ways, this is because we are all individuals and what is right for one student, is not necessarily right for another. In order to succeed, you will have to accept personal responsibility for finding a way to plan, implement and manage a personal study plan that works for you. If you do not succeed, you only have yourself to blame.

Planning

By far the most critical contribution to stress, is the feeling of not being in control. In the absence of planning we tend to be reactive and can stumble from pillar to post in the hope that things will turn out fine in the end. Invariably they don’t! In order to be in control, we need to have firm ideas about how and when we want to do things. We also need to consider as many possible eventualities as we can, so that we are prepared for them when they happen. Prescriptive Change, is far easier to manage and control, than Emergent Change. The same is true with distance-learning. It is much easier and much more enjoyable, if you feel that you are in control and that things are going to plan. Even when things do go wrong, you are prepared for them and can act accordingly without any unnecessary stress. It is important therefore that you do take time to plan your studies properly.

Management

Once you have developed a clear study plan, it is of equal importance to ensure that you manage the implementation of it. Most of us usually enjoy planning, but it is usually during implementation when things go wrong. Targets are not met and we do not understand why. Sometimes we do not even know if targets are being met. It is not enough for us to conclude that the study plan just failed. If it is failing, you will need to understand what you can do about it. Similarly if your study plan is succeeding, it is still important to understand why, so that you can improve upon your success. You therefore need to have guidelines for self-assessment so that you can be consistent with performance improvement throughout the program. If you manage things correctly, then your performance should constantly improve throughout the program.

Study objectives & tasks

The first place to start is developing your program objectives. These should feature your reasons for undertaking the training program in order of priority. Keep them succinct and to the point in order to avoid confusion. Do not just write the first things that come into your head because they are likely to be too similar to each other. Make a list of possible departmental headings, such as: Customer Service; E-business; Finance; Globalization; Human Resources; Technology; Legal; Management; Marketing and Production. Then brainstorm for ideas by listing as many things that you want to achieve under each heading and later re-arrange these things in order of priority. Finally, select the top item from each department heading and choose these as your program objectives. Try and restrict yourself to five because it will enable you to focus clearly. It is likely that the other things that you listed will be achieved if each of the top objectives are achieved. If this does not prove to be the case, then simply work through the process again.

Study forecast

As a guide, the Appleton Greene Women Empowerment corporate training program should take 12-18 months to complete, depending upon your availability and current commitments. The reason why there is such a variance in time estimates is because every student is an individual, with differing productivity levels and different commitments. These differentiations are then exaggerated by the fact that this is a distance-learning program, which incorporates the practical integration of academic theory as an as a part of the training program. Consequently all of the project studies are real, which means that important decisions and compromises need to be made. You will want to get things right and will need to be patient with your expectations in order to ensure that they are. We would always recommend that you are prudent with your own task and time forecasts, but you still need to develop them and have a clear indication of what are realistic expectations in your case. With reference to your time planning: consider the time that you can realistically dedicate towards study with the program every week; calculate how long it should take you to complete the program, using the guidelines featured here; then break the program down into logical modules and allocate a suitable proportion of time to each of them, these will be your milestones; you can create a time plan by using a spreadsheet on your computer, or a personal organizer such as MS Outlook, you could also use a financial forecasting software; break your time forecasts down into manageable chunks of time, the more specific you can be, the more productive and accurate your time management will be; finally, use formulas where possible to do your time calculations for you, because this will help later on when your forecasts need to change in line with actual performance. With reference to your task planning: refer to your list of tasks that need to be undertaken in order to achieve your program objectives; with reference to your time plan, calculate when each task should be implemented; remember that you are not estimating when your objectives will be achieved, but when you will need to focus upon implementing the corresponding tasks; you also need to ensure that each task is implemented in conjunction with the associated training modules which are relevant; then break each single task down into a list of specific to do’s, say approximately ten to do’s for each task and enter these into your study plan; once again you could use MS Outlook to incorporate both your time and task planning and this could constitute your study plan; you could also use a project management software like MS Project. You should now have a clear and realistic forecast detailing when you can expect to be able to do something about undertaking the tasks to achieve your program objectives.

Performance management

It is one thing to develop your study forecast, it is quite another to monitor your progress. Ultimately it is less important whether you achieve your original study forecast and more important that you update it so that it constantly remains realistic in line with your performance. As you begin to work through the program, you will begin to have more of an idea about your own personal performance and productivity levels as a distance-learner. Once you have completed your first study module, you should re-evaluate your study forecast for both time and tasks, so that they reflect your actual performance level achieved. In order to achieve this you must first time yourself while training by using an alarm clock. Set the alarm for hourly intervals and make a note of how far you have come within that time. You can then make a note of your actual performance on your study plan and then compare your performance against your forecast. Then consider the reasons that have contributed towards your performance level, whether they are positive or negative and make a considered adjustment to your future forecasts as a result. Given time, you should start achieving your forecasts regularly.

With reference to time management: time yourself while you are studying and make a note of the actual time taken in your study plan; consider your successes with time-efficiency and the reasons for the success in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing future time planning; consider your failures with time-efficiency and the reasons for the failures in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing future time planning; re-evaluate your study forecast in relation to time planning for the remainder of your training program to ensure that you continue to be realistic about your time expectations. You need to be consistent with your time management, otherwise you will never complete your studies. This will either be because you are not contributing enough time to your studies, or you will become less efficient with the time that you do allocate to your studies. Remember, if you are not in control of your studies, they can just become yet another cause of stress for you.

With reference to your task management: time yourself while you are studying and make a note of the actual tasks that you have undertaken in your study plan; consider your successes with task-efficiency and the reasons for the success in each case; take this into consideration when reviewing future task planning; consider your failures with task-efficiency and the reasons for the failures in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing