Last week we discussed The Difference between Efficiency and Effectiveness.
This week we are going to discuss planning and time management in 6 Tips to Get Things Done.
Does this sound familiar:
You wake up Monday morning recharged and ready to go. You get to the office or the jobsite with the idea to have a great day. You check your email, reading through a few items and make a mental note about working on them later. Bob pops in and asks if you have a quick minute to talk, and you oblige, chatting with him for 20 minutes about a problem he is having on one of his projects.
As he walks out, you get a phone call – it’s your best customer and you are happy to take the call – but he is not happy, his job is behind schedule, your crew has not showed up to the job yet and its almost 9 o’clock. You listen to him, let him vent and confirm that you will get on it right away and get back in touch with him shortly. Over the next 30 to 45 minutes you contact the production manager and crew lead to investigate the delay, and you finally call back your customer to give him an update as the crew arrives on-site, he is concerned about his schedule, but has settled down and you breathe a sigh of relief when you get off of the phone.
A notice pops up, you just got an email from your boss for an impromptu meeting in 15 minutes with no topic or agenda – you don’t know what it is about or how to prepare, good luck. After 45 minutes of listening to the boss talk about a new idea for the business you are back in your office, it’s already lunch time.
After you come back from lunch, the same things happen – you get lost in email, meetings, a few pop in visits, some distracting phone calls and the day is over. On your way home you think back on the day and you are not quite sure what you actually accomplished.
Here are 6 Tips to Get Things Done:
- Be Proactive – Do not get lost in reacting to everything and everyone around you, get ahead of the business. I highly recommend limiting email and non-revenue generating phone calls to specific blocks of time during the day, maybe 30 minutes to an hour twice a day, possibly before lunch and before the end of the day.
- Identify Your High Payoff Activities – These are the regular, must do activities for you to be successful, most often these activities are related to your lead indicators; for example, in sales this would include identifying new prospects and scheduling introduction meetings.
- Identify The Most Important Things for This Week – Make sure you know the top 5 to 6 things that need to get done for this to be a great week.
- Planning Time – Also, make sure to include some time every week to review the past week and plan for the week ahead.
- Use a Calendar – Schedule your high payoff activities, the most important things for this week, planning time and include daily blocks for email and non-revenue generating phone calls.
- Work Your Plan – Commit to your plan and take ownership of what you need to do to get the job done.
Stay tuned as we continue to share more about success and business fundamentals.
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