Who Owns Your Time?

Just returning from a networking/peer luncheon, one of the resounding issues was that of time management and who has ownership of your time. In your 8 hour day, how much of it do you dictate and how much of it is dictate and determined by you? If you are spending more than 50% of your time with your tasks, timelines and schedule being dictated by someone else then you have a productivity problem!

While other people are all too willing to fill your calendar, fill your task list and fill your head, your job is to fight them off and take control again. Your job is:
1) To recognize that your time is YOUR time and that no one makes you do anything ... you accept it.
2) Allow people will work around some of your guidelines for your time when you set them, communicate them and stick to them
3) Each day establish what is most important in your day and what YOU need to get done to maximize the impact (not just the workload) you can make.
4) To set time guidelines that give you more freedom and not become more cumbersome
5) Look at what you can delegate in your work and personal life to free up time ... list off 10 things you don't like to do and start there.

Taking all your cues from other people and allow them to manage all your time is easy. No, it is. Unfortunately it also put someone else's convenience, plan and agenda ahead of yours.

You need to start to test the boundaries of what you can control TODAY. When people take control of even small pieces of their time they start to realize they control all of it! Recognition of control is the first step in time management that many courses and books forget to mention! Yet great time management starts in your head not in your calendar. Need help breaking through the barriers on your time, ask us for help.

Service Tip: It's My Pleasure!

When did "No problem" become the acceptable response to helping someone out? It suggests that normally things are a problem but in this case it is "no problem". The Ritz Carlton has it right when everyone in their organization helps out and then responds, "My pleasure Sir/Madam." They know that the simple change of words means that each customer feels more valued, deserving and respected. It is never an effort to help at the Ritz. It is the reason they are there and it is always a pleasure to help.

How different an experience can be and the spirit of service when your team starts to respond to customers, "It was my pleasure!"

Leadership Tip: Leadership is Like Cars

Quality, performance, value and experience. All things you might be looking for in a car. Also all things that people list when talking about a strong leader.

If your team had to describe your leadership style in terms of a car, what kind of car would you be? Would you be a Mercedes or would you be a Saturn? It is a great exercise to allow people to describe you without directly describing you. It is essential to know what vehicle you are trying to BE and trying to represent. It is also easier to picture that car in your mind all day or week long versus trying to remember all the words that describe it.

Start your week being a Mercedes or a Hummer and see how your team's response changes and improves.

Sales Tip: Build Your Sales Case

How many times have you seen a salesperson who can't think of more than one or two good reasons to buy their product? A strong sales case has at least three reasons for every potential objection to your product or service.

If you can't overwhelm prospective clients with great reasons and ideas to buy your product, don't expect them to think of the reasons on their own. It is your responsibility to build a case for your product, not theirs.

Create a cheat sheet of ideas for product and service. Make a huge list of reasons and advantages - then internalize it. Know it well enough it comes to mind easily and instantaneously.

With a strong case you can win almost any deal!

The Need for Accountability

Who keeps you accountable? Maybe your first response is your spouse. What about at work? Who is providing you with accountability? Who is keeping you focused and on target with the things you say you will do or the things you want to do? It is a critical role. Every professional athlete has a coach and one of their key roles is accountability. Can Tiger Woods hit a golf ball? Of course he can. Will he occassionally cut a practice short or hit a few less practice balls? Of course he would if someone wasn't providing accountability.

I chuckle when a business owner says that his team makes him accountable. I chuckle because when I ask the team, typically they say they have no power to hold the president/owner accountable because he's the boss. One of the things I absolutely encourage is to find someone to be an accountability source for you. I have a friend that holds me accountable to my vacation planning. I have a personal trainer creating accountability for workouts and health. I have a business coach (www.evolvebusinessgroup.com/coaching) for my strategic planning and accountability of our corporate performance. Without these people I would be less vacationed, more stressed, fatter and wouldn't have the professional success I do.

Whether it be family, friends, co-workers, a business coach or mentor ... find someone to create accountability and help you plan out each area of your life. Let them help you ensure success in all aspects of your life.

Outlook on the Economy

Here is a link to one of our favorite sales professionals and gurus, Jeffrey Gitomer. We are always talking about the focus on how much of the market is there when sales are down. After reading this article we couldn't have said it better ourselves:
http://www.gitomer.com/articles/ViewPublicArticle.html?key=ajcdMibak3MNmHBSdoygJQ%3D%3D

Compensation for Contribution

So often we fall into this idea that we get paid to show up at work. Really that is true only for a short period of time. In the longer term analysis, as people realize your limited contribution and effort, you jeopardize your position and security. Contribution is really what you are being compensated for. Not just contribution to the widget or service your company produces but also contribution to the culture, contribution to the community and even, on a daily basis, to the energy of the group.

So when you arrive at work each day, how many ways are you thinking about contribution? Are you showing up to manage your coffee and your email? Probably not. Most people are there to give some input and help in some capacity. How committed are you to really contributing to the success of the organization? Do you know what type of contribution is even expected of you?

If you aren’t contributing each day in a variety of ways then you aren’t giving it your all. You need to look at the way you work and the approach you take and ask yourself; am I contributing like this today:

1) To the morale and betterment of the people in my office and organization?

2) Am I giving energy to the people around me?

3) Am I giving energy to the solutions to our problems (or just keying in on the problems themselves)?

4) With new ideas, original ideas or collaborative ideas (you get paid to think)?

5) To the community outside of my organization – independently or with the company?

6) To the profitability of the business or organization?

7) To the improvement of my skills, knowledge and expertise?

Focus on contribution in all of these areas and watch your career effortlessly expand and flourish as you reap what you sow.