As a top sales consultant, I’m often asked by sales executives what they should focus their time on. This question reminds me of my triage days as a young volunteer medic on my town’s ambulance squad. 

I was an EMT in Fair Lawn, NJ, and one night, we had a disaster drill involving a school bus accident with many young victims. Arriving first on the scene, our team became the triage unit. It was fast-paced, challenging, and scary—we had to make instantaneous decisions about who received treatment first.

In medical situations, triage involves categorizing patients by the urgency of their condition and their likelihood of survival. 

I was so intrigued by the triage process that I eventually customized it for sales as a top sales keynote speaker. I found this process invaluable for helping sales executives improve their time management—a skill they constantly seek to refine.

In medical triage, urgency dictates priority. In sales triage, however, the priority is value, not urgency. Value includes factors like potential revenue, deal size, closing date, and strategic importance. Both processes require rapid decision-making and quick judgments. Just as a doctor or EMT assesses a patient’s condition, salespeople must assess prospects and leads to determine where to spend their time.

The difference is that in sales, decisions are based on value. The prospect with the highest potential—the biggest and best opportunity—gets prioritized first. You may choose to spend more time with that prospect than with others. The next in line is the one with the second-highest potential, and so on.

Remember, in medical triage, urgency drives decisions. In sales triage, value is the key. 

Who and what you focus on will directly impact the results you achieve this year.