Too Many Interruptions

It happens more than we are aware of in a workday. According to a study from CubeSmart, the average manager (aka Decision Making Prospect) is interrupted every eight (8) minutes. If there is still such a thing as an 8-hour workday for important prospects, that equals sixty (60) interruptions each day.

Each interruption, says CubeSmart, last about 5-minutes each. The study digs deeper into the real "Kick-in -the-pants." It takes your prospect "20 minutes to get back to the level of concentration that they were at prior to the disruption."

With this information and minimal math skills, it seems impossible to get anything done.

• Every 8 minutes your prospect is interrupted

• Each interruption takes 5 minutes

• Recovery time back to prior level of concentration takes 20 minutes

At the next 8-minute mark and 2 minutes into their recovery time, the next interruption occurs. Your prospect has no time to concentrate!

Afterall, CubeSmart is selling privacy doors. So maybe they are a little generous with their numbers.

The numbers get a little closer when Gloria Mark of the Univeristy of California, Irvine found that prospects get 11 minutes between interruptions but found that it takes 25 minutes to return to the original task.

With both studies, there is enough happening to prove that interruptions frequently happen and cause concentration problems for your prospects.

Eyal Peer, at Carnegie Mellon University, focused on brain power lost when someone is interrupted. A little different from the other two studies. Long story short, the interrupted group in his study missed 20% more on a cognitive test than the control group experiencing no interruptions.

The takeaway here is that you have to understand your prospects are constantly interrupted. Their concentration is impaired most of the day. To reach them, you have to employ communication techniques that get attention, reach deeper and stick around longer.