Winston-Salem Business Magazine - January 2008 - (Page 28) Are You Ready? By Cathy Seaver Effective Connections There it sits on my desk, waiting to be opened. I ordered it on time. It arrived on time. With it came all the “extras,” those additional pages and optional dividers that are supposed to help me be more productive. They came last year, as well. I remember putting them somewhere. What is it about new calendars? They sit before us – all shapes and sizes – waiting to be used. All those empty pages or screens (so new and pristine) showing so many days of potential business lying ahead. It’s exciting and, yet, intimidating, even frightening. Whether you work for yourself or someone else, you know that any day left blank is a day of unemployment! Whether it’s electronic or paper, hand-held or in a binder, today is the day to begin filling those pages with appointments, names of people to call and lists of productive activities. Realize that your calendar is one of the most important tools of your trade. Within its pages lies your client building system. It provides a tracking of both prospects and clients to help you build your business. In addition, it is a simple system of checks and balances for activity. Using it daily and judiciously will assist you in cultivating successful, efficient and organized work habits. Here are just a few key concepts to having your calendar work for you! - Find a calendar that you like. If you are unhappy with what you have, get a new one. Something as simple as layout can promote or deter productivity. Talk with your business associates and friends about their calendars. Ask probing questions to understand their choices. Always consider portability and ease of entry. Business is about relationships and developing relationships involves calendars. - Set adequate and consistent daily activity goals (appointments, phone calls) for whatever is needed to make you successful. Record those in a prominent place in your calendar. Each evening compare them to actual activity and record the results. Evaluate regularly and look for monthly/weekly trends. Reward yourself when you have higher than charted activity. On the other hand, know when it’s time to ramp-up the levels. - Create your own terms, symbols and abbreviations to help track types of appointments. Seeing clients can make days warm and friendly. But, cultivating new relationships with prospects is the lifeblood of business. Strive for variety. Code your appointments. S = Suspect, P = Prospect, C = Client, R = Referral. Understand that ten qualified suspects will generate three prospects to eventually yield one client. In addition, a Point System can be a quick and easy way to help you determine how well you are doing from day-to-day and month-to-month. Give yourself daily points for certain activities. Work toward high point days. (Ex. 2 points for each appointment kept, 1 point for each referral) - Maintain a list of names and phone numbers in your calendar of people to contact. Fill-in those gaps between appointments with quick calls from the car or office. Continue to add and delete from the list as calls are made. Highlight or star changes for updates of your master directory. For future reference, record dates when calls are made. - Assess next week’s activity by Wednesday evening. If necessary, use your Thursday to make phone calls to schedule appointments for next week. Work in two-week increments, this week and the next. Having next week’s calendar full by Thursday afternoon boosts your confidence and makes the upcoming weekend more enjoyable! - Don’t get caught in a scheduling crunch. Be certain to record weekly or monthly automatics on your calendar – those standing meetings. How embarrassing to call a prospect to reschedule an appointment due to an oversight on your part. - Always have your calendar with you and available. If a contact mentions getting together, be ready to ask, “When?” Having to call later not only delays the appointment but may put it in jeopardy. Schedules are full for everyone. An accessible calendar saves time and tells the other person, “You’re important. I want to meet with you.” So, are you ready? Is your calendar out of the wrapper, fully charged and ready for action? 28 JANUARY 2008
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