Today, I would like to talk to you about another techique that I use, that works particularly well when it comes to managing all those phone calls you need to return.

If your calendar is anything like mine, you tend to spend more time out of the office than in it. By the time you get back to your office, it’s time to catch up on voice mail and emails. When I clear out my voice mail, I make it a habit to schedule those activities right in my Contact Relationship Management (CRM) system. This way, I don’t have to manage multiple pieces of paper, and because my CRM synchronizes to my BlackBerry, the contacts and activities automatically end up on my phone as well. I try to do the same thing with my email. I triage my new messages and those that I can get delegated, deleted or responded to quickly with a short reply. Then I look for messages that require action on my behalf and schedule those activities in my CRM (often times, attaching the full email message to the contact record, or at least pasting the message into the history). Usually, by the time I am finished clearing out my messages from both my phone and email, I have a pretty good collection of activities in my database. Often times, a majority of those activities are phone calls that need to be returned.

Once my CRM is brought up to date, I’m back to my Task List to review the activities that require my immediate attention. As I mentioned yesterday, one of the tricks I use is priority management. Another trick I use is to take a look at my list of phone calls, and any calls that are of a high priority, I drag to a specific time on my daily calendar. While Im doing this, I also make sure I schedule the more difficult calls, (or the calls that require the most brain power) for earlier in the day. This way, I can make sure that I am getting the critical calls done first so in case something happens to my schedule during the day, I’ve at least focused my efforts appropriately. When I do this, I find that I tend to move from one call to the next without looking at the entire list again, and “cherry-picking” the next call. I can also be very sensitive about the amount of time I need to allocate to my activities and the time of day. If it’s “selling time” then I had better be doing the calls related to selling. By proactively reviewing and scheduling your list of calls, you’ll find that you are getting through more calls in a day, and achieving a much better connection rate.

I would appreciate reading your comments so if you have any feedback for me, please post them as a response below.

Enjoy your day!

Ken

Related posts:

1. Monday Morning Kick Start
2. Database or Rolodex?

By now, I expect everyone is making use of some type of contact management database system (for anyone who isn’t yet, read my earlier blog here). Hopefully, you are also using that systems calendaring function. For ease of illustration, I’m going to use the example of the ACT! Contact Management System (however, everything discussed here applies equally as well to the Infusionsoft system).

When I get in to the office in the morning, the first thing I do is fire up my computer and log in to my ACT! database (ok, this might be second only to getting my coffee ). Once in my database, the first place I go is to my Task List to review any pending activities prior to today. Sometimes, if I have a meeting late on Friday, or over the weekend, I may not get my database updated until Monday morning, so I want to make sure I don’t have any activities pending in the past. If I do, I either clear them as completed, reschedule them to another date and time, or erase them. Once that’s completed, I change the filtering on my task list to show me today’s activities. Now I go to work and review the things I’ve got scheduled for today.  Anything scheduled for a specific time gets reviewed to make sure I have the necessary details covered. For example, if it’s a meeting, have I confirmed the meeting and do I have the material I need for the meeting ready to go. Once I’ve reviewed the “non-discretionary” items (i.e. the tasks that are scheduled for a specific time), I take a look at the other tasks on my list. These are typically made up of phone calls that should be made and To-Do’s that need to be done, all scheduled “timeless”. Sometimes this list of “timeless” activities can be daunting as I’m one of those people that tend to put everything I need to do into my database. So the trick becomes, how do I manage this list of timeless activities to make sure I am using my time as efficiently as I can and be as productive as I can be.

Here is one technique I use that you might find helpful. As I review my list of timeless activities, I change the priority of any activity that needs to be done today to a status of “high”. I also color code this high priority to “red”. Now, when I look at my Task List, or my Daily Calendar, I can see at a glance the activities that are of highest priority and will focus my attention on those for the day. As I get each one completed, they are removed from my Calendar and Task List, and I can focus on the next one. If one of the activites need to be rescheduled to another day, I reschedule it right away. If I reschedule an activity to another day, I make sure and change the priority to either medium or low, so when that day comes, I again can review all the activities for the day, and determine which ones need to be bumped to a priority status of High. This technique helps me to stay focused on those items of greatest concern, and get the things done that absolutely needs to be done that day. My productivity stays high, and my efficiency stays high as I tend to get less distracted. In my next blog post, I will share with you another technique I use to manage my daily activities which is particularly helpful when I have several calls to make or return.

I hope this helps you get your Monday off to a great start, and helps to reduce your stress around too many things to do, and not enough time to get them done.  If you have any comments or thoughts you would like to share, please pass them along by posting a response below.

Enjoy your day!

Ken

Related posts:

1. Activity Management – Part II
2. What’s New At True North
3. Database or Rolodex?