I drove back from Berlin on Sunday. Always hits me with a wave of nostalgia since I spent my formative years there. The city’s been good to me. From wild teenage years to early career breakthroughs.

As I watched the city fade in my rearview mirror, I remembered something valuable from my retail days that’s still ridiculously relevant for every salesperson I work with.

The Birth of the Power Hour

So picture this: I’m running one of the top-performing branches among 1500+ retail locations. During holiday rushes or promotional periods, it was absolute chaos. We were drowning in a common problem:

Too many customers. Too many pallets. Not enough focus.

We’d end up spending more time searching for products in our disaster zone of a warehouse than actually selling on the floor. Classic case of being busy without being productive.

One evening during our team debrief, we were all frustrated about the revenue we were leaving on the table. That’s when we created what we called the “power hour”:

Two team members would get completely relieved of sales floor duty for ONE HOUR, every single day.

Their only job? Clear the warehouse backlog. Organize inventory. Make everything findable.

The result was immediate. That single focused hour without interruptions created a ripple effect of efficiency that lasted all day.

Why This Matters to You Now

Years later, I realized this concept was pure gold beyond retail. That knowledge worker who’s checking email every 3 minutes? They’re wasting the 20+ minutes it takes to regain complete focus after each interruption.

You’re literally throwing away hours of productivity every day by allowing constant distraction.

The 80/20 Rule of Sales Focus

Block one uninterrupted hour every day to work exclusively on the 20% of activities that generate 80% of your results.

During this time:

  • No Slack notifications
  • No email checking
  • No “quick questions” from teammates
  • No social media “just for a second”

For salespeople, this might be:

  • Making those 5 critical prospecting calls
  • Preparing that enterprise-level proposal
  • Following up with promising leads
  • Practicing your pitch for tomorrow’s meeting

The Hard Truth

Look, in this era of 24/7 notifications and “always available” expectations, there’s simply no excuse for allowing yourself to be yanked around by distractions all day long. The top performers always protect their focus time religiously.

So ask yourself: Are you actually directing your day, or are you just reacting to whatever pings loudest?

Berlin taught me a lot. And this simple productivity hack from my retail days has made a significant impact on my career.