Sales and marketing are critical to improving the top line dollars. Solid organizing and time management skills are a must. But first you have to start by making up your mind to do something different…in order to get different results.
Here are your productivity tips for this month:
1. What’s the goal? If you don’t know what you’re shooting for, then how will you know when you get there? Focusing energy and spending time on things that aren’t even on your radar wastes precious time you can’t recapture. Be smart…and wise.
2. Execute on priorities. Knowing your priorities is one thing. Getting to them is another. Shifting priorities is the norm in today’s business environment. That means you need to consistently review your high-payoff activities and go to them first…and often.
3. Make appointments with yourself. If you want to actually accomplish items 1 and 2 above, it requires dedicated, focused time to do what you need to do. Mark time out in your calendar for this important work. Make appointments with yourself…and honor them.
Ó 2007 Cynthia Kyriazis
Cynthia,
Its almost Dec 31, 2009 but your advice from 2007 still holds so true. People really need to be finished with there planning or wrapping it up for 2010! Item three is critical. Most people say they will use the time they have left in the day doing the stuff they need to do and when it comes to business, these are the most important things to get done. Scheduling blocks of time to work on your business instead of waiting till you have time…the quality of the out put will be much more thorough.
Glenn..
Thanks for your note. I spend time with clients mostly on items #1 and 2 – Goals and Priorities. This helps them get the ‘strategic’ house in order and see what they have on their plate. However, when it comes to #3 this is where the rubber meets the road from an implementation or execution standpoint. It’s about getting it ON THE CALENDAR after you have identified your process. Once that sales and marketing ‘machine’ is in place, it actually frees your time for unexpected opportunities!
Thanks again for your observation and comment!