Posted: June 27, 2018 | Categories: Time management

If we want to manage our time well, we need to be good at planning.  Is it possible to over-plan?  Yes and no.

The past week I was working with a client on more effective time management.  We’ll call him Roger.  The area he was working on was weekly/daily planning. He was frustrated that he was not executing his daily plans well.  I asked him a few questions, and discovered that he had planned 100% of his time.  He had everything figured out to the minute.  The problem is that in the real world, things often don’t fit into a neat little package.  Stuff breaks, people are delayed, and problems and obstacles are many.  Roger was frustrated.  What is the antidote?  Plan only 70% of your available time.  If you have planned well, you have determined your priorities and the order in which they need to be done.  It is easy to determine a priority.  Just ask one or both of these questions:

1.  How much will I benefit if I do this?

2.  How much will I suffer if I don’t do it?

If the answer to either of these questions is strong, you have an “A” priority.  Once you determine your priorities, now comes the most important planning:  What are the most important things I need to accomplish today? Ideally, this planning should be done the day before.  Start with your A-1, stay focused and do not allow a distraction unless it is an even higher priority – like a customer who is having a crisis.  If we do get such an interruption, we have allowed for it because we only scheduled 70% of our time.  To be focused and remain flexible in managing our time, we need to:

1.  Know our priorities

2.  Plan only 70% of our time.

3.  Enjoy a relaxed, fulfilled feeling at the end of the day.

Posted: June 11, 2018 | Categories: Leadership, Team Building

For many years I have worked with a highly successful entrepreneur who knows how to lead.  His turnover is very low, and by all measures the productivity of his team is outstanding.  One of the most remarkable qualities this man (George) possesses is the ability to build consensus and bring his team in to total alignment.

Last week, George was tossing around a business decision that he knew would affect the routine and schedule of his staff.  In his monthly all-staff meeting this week, he introduced the idea to the 7 managers in the room.  Six were in favor and one was not.  George began asking questions to stir up the dialogue.  In an atmosphere of mutual respect, they began expressing their thoughts and defending their positions.  When one talked the others listened well.  Throughout the conversation I could sense the positive energy and synergy.  The one dissenting opinion was now enthusiastically in the positive column.  Rather than digging in on his position, he listened and weighed the other positions and ideas.  The team had all come together and displayed an eager attitude to move forward.  They were all bought in and committed.

George demonstrated that valued leadership quality of gaining enthusiastic cooperation.  Rather than simply give directives, he “let the game come to him.”  Whenever appropriate and possible, we should do the same.  It is an important step towards building a top-performing team.

Posted: May 9, 2018 | Categories: Customer service, Leadership, Sales

Six months ago one of my coaching clients found himself in a predicament:  Ty received a phone call from his biggest customer and it wasn’t a happy one.  His customer had not received their delivery and it was past due.  As a result, this missed delivery date caused the company to be late with a shipment to one of their customers.

Ty checked into it right away, and found out the error was due to some communication error between two departments.  They made a big mistake.  Ty could have called the company and made up some excuse.  Instead, he said, “We made a mistake.  We are sorry.  We are now making arrangements for you to receive it by air freight, and we will absorb the additional shipping charges”.

Fast forward to today.  Not only is this still their biggest customer, they have purchased far more than anticipated since the error.  I am quite certain this would not have happened if Ty and his company hadn’t owned up to their mistake and made it right quickly.  Ty knew that the most important asset his company has is their sterling reputation, and he fought to preserve it.

What Ty did seems like common sense.  It is common sense.  Yet how many times have you seen a situation where there was a mix-up in a process, and a shipment has to be sent out late?  Have you ever heard someone ask the question, “What should we tell them?”  How about the truth?  It worked for Ty

Our reputation is our brand, and it is a strong determining factor when a purchasing decision is made.  Think of it like that commercial for a Nationwide Freight Carrier:  “We are in the business of keeping promises”.

Posted: May 1, 2018 | Categories: Leadership, Management, Team Building

You may have heard the expression that meetings are where “minutes are kept and hours are lost.”  We are all keenly aware of this maxim when we are part of a meeting that lasts far too long and accomplishes nothing.

About three years ago I was able to experience the work of an excellent meeting facilitator.  I was serving on a board, and Rick was the Chairman.  Each monthly meeting was scheduled for 60 minutes, and during Rick’s two-year term, there was never a meeting that was so much as a minute over.  Here is the best part:  None of us board members every felt rushed, and the meetings were some of the most productive I have ever attended in my career.  How did he do it?  Here are the steps he followed.

1. He handed out a simple, printed agenda:  
2. He went through each item and generated a discussion that opened us up and made it comfortable for everyone to give input.
3. After a time, the discussion would start to get repetitive.  Rick knew right when to intercede.  He would say, “If I may summarize, what I hear you saying is…”  He was usually right on because he was an excellent listener.
4. After summarizing the discussion, he would ask for a plan of action that involved commitment from the members.  They knew they would be held accountable to report in the next meeting. 
5. After summarizing each discussion and recapping the specific action steps:  Meeting adjourned.  Right on time!

I know, it sounds easy.  It isn’t.  Above are the fundamentals.  The rest is up to us. (Practice)

Posted: April 16, 2018 | Categories: Sales, Self-Improvement

One thing I love about coaching is sharing in my client’s success.  Today was a special day.  Bill called me all excited:  He just received two PO’s that enabled him to achieve his goal for the entire year.  That means that in less than three months his sales were now equal to his boss’ expectations for the whole year.  How did he do it?

Bill has a lot of good qualities.  He plans well, works hard, and knows how to maintain a sense of humor and positive attitude.  He also knows how to plan a clear, detailed road map to his goal and get there one foot in front of another.  He knows his goal and he knows the type and amount of activity needed to get there.   It is not guesswork.  He has figured it out through his consistent tracking.  Sounds simple, but I find that most sales professionals have no idea of the amount of activity and planning it will take to get to their goals.  Not surprisingly, they usually fall short.

Here is an analogy:  Last month I had knee replacement surgery.  For those who have had this procedure, you know that there is much rehab and physical therapy needed after the operation.  If we aren’t disciplined in our exercises, the scar tissue will become stiff in the knee, and we will walk with a stiff leg the rest of our lives.  So, we do the exercises!  The PT knows just what activity we need to do and to what intensity we need to do it.  If we diligently stay with the program, our knee will be fine.

Think about our sales strategy.  Like the PT, have we developed our own strategic road map to our sales goals?  If not, there is no time like the present.  Like Bill, take the time to map out your strategy in detail and employ a daily discipline to stay with it.