How to get the most out of your day

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Some tips on how to create more time -

• Use ‘To Do’ lists.  Weekly list what you want to achieve & at the end of each day prepare your list for the next day.

• Manage interruptions and handle them effectively.  Prepare what to say “Great to see you – I have a deadline in half an hour so do you mind if we catch up for lunch?”

• When you drop in or call someone ask “Is now a good time?” so you can support them to get the most out of their day.

• Don’t allow distractions to become an interruption.  How do you get distracted?  As you clean the kitchen, surf the net or read the junk mail consider the impact on achieving your ‘To Do’ list.  Take control by making a choice – wasting time or getting things done?

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Science of Selling

Definition of Science = knowledge of facts or principles; knowledge gained by systematic study

Definition of Sell = to transfer (goods) to or render (services) for another in exchange for money;

The definition of the word Science says it all – ‘knowledge gained by systematic study’.  Businesses that have systems in place that build up knowledge or a history of their sales, are clear what works, what doesn’t work and have the data to hand to make decisions moving forward.  Does your business consider selling to be a science?

What kind of systems could you put in place and what could you do with the knowledge they provide?  Asking simple questions – ‘how did you hear about us?’ can tell you which marketing campaigns attract clients that buy.  ‘What is your postcode?’ supports you to build up knowledge of your customer base.  Recording how much each person buys against their postcode can show any patterns in spending based on where they live.  Setting up a loyalty program can help you track how much each of your regular customers spend on what and when.

These are all very simple systems to set up – they don’t require sophisticated software – just a pad by the till can be effective.  One of my clients can tell you off the top of his head the average dollar sale per customer for the past week, the most popular item sold, the volume of sales and location of customer for a specific advertising campaign.  How?  The team collect coupons, ask questions and the till records the amount of people against how much was spent.

What other selling facts or principles do you want to build up knowledge of?  Knowing the reason why people say no or don’t buy from you can be very useful.  You can then train yourself and your staff in how to handle objections, revise products for sale and make sure you are selling to the right market.  You might find that people from a certain postcode like specific items but they don’t sell as well in a different location.  When you are expanding your business this is vital information – what works in one town might not work in another.  If this is the case you need to know why.

Having basic selling systems in place that enable you to understand the science of selling in your business will help you to both survive and grow.  Take the time to ask questions, record the data and then use it to make smart decisions.

Top Tip = Understand the science of selling in your market and your business and TAKE ACTION to make it work.

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Balancing Business and Lifestyle

This article will save you time by providing you with ideas on how to achieve balance.

What does balance mean to you?  Before you work at creating balance make sure you are clear what it will ‘look like’ in your life.  Picking the kids up from school, playing golf one afternoon a week, not working on the weekends.

Start with setting goals – ‘what’ do you want to achieve and ‘by when’.  Be specific and realistic.  Eg: “By March I want to be at home by 4pm on a Monday and Friday”.

Now look at what you need to organise to make your goals a reality.  Using the example above you might need to……

-  Use a diary to note down the days and times and manage your work and appointments around them

-  Let the people around you know what it is that you are doing so they can support you reach your goals.  Make them public & put them on the wall at home and work. Why not invite others to set similar goals so you are surrounded by balanced people?!

-  Organise yourself to prevent dramas.  If the business is dependant on you, be responsible about the impact leaving early might have.

-  Check the business is still financially viable if you leave early.  Can you afford to take on more staff?   Talk to your accountant or bookkeeper and make sure it is

-  Review your systems so that you can be relaxed when you get home at 4pm and be confident that your team are doing a good job.

Are you left with a ‘busy’ head at the end of the day?.  Try these to create a ‘clear headspace’ to enjoy your lifestyle….

-  Schedule ‘thought provoking’ or stimulating meetings in the morning and not just before you try and switch off.

-  Before leaving the office spend 5 mins jotting down what is in your head.  Organise your desk and prepare for the next day.

-  Make sure you have both your ‘life’ and ‘work’ activities organised.  Arrange a specific time to meet friends/have a date with your partner/exercise and then put the energy into making it work.

I strongly believe that being organised both personally and professionally is a key element to achieving balance in all areas of your life….being efficient and effective creates time to live a life you love!

Enjoy setting some awesome goals and remember you will need energy and passion to make them happen, so schedule some time in to recharge your batteries!

Hot Tip: We only live once – if you are not having fun look at what choices you are making.

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Going Green in the Office

Be a leader in your workplace and an active advocate for our environment.  Set an example and create a trend – after all if you make time to look after the environment it will look after us and our children!

Here are some simple but effective ways to go green at work!

Saving Energy

1. Look at what you use hot water for and consider switching off your hot water service or turn the thermostat down low.
2. Use energy saving light globes and turn off lights that are not needed.
3. Personal desk fans are very effective to cool you down AND force you to clean up your desk so the papers don’t blow away!  Only resort to the air conditioning on really hot days. Personal fans use less energy than refrigerated air conditioners and less water than evaporative coolers.

Saving Water

1. Only fill up the kettle with enough water to make your cup of tea, saving both water and energy.
2. Any water left in drinking glasses at the end of the day can be used to water the plants, rather than just throwing it down the sink.
3. Wait until you have a full sink of dishes before washing up, rather than wasting water doing small lots.
4. Encouraged staff to use the half flush button on the loo wherever possible.

Reducing waste

1. Keep live plants instead of fake ones, which means less ‘unnatural’ resources have been used to decorate your office space.
2. Do not use disposable crockery in the office – buy reusable takeaway cups.
3. Use scrap paper for notes instead of buying new note pads.
4. Encourage staff to minimise printing and only print when absolutely necessary.
5. Use the back of scrap printer paper for internal printing.
6. Print two pages to the one side. The text is smaller but it’s still easy to read and uses half the paper.

Reusing Resources

1. Shred waste paper once it’s been used both sides and give it to friends for garden mulch.
2. Purchase recycled paper wherever possible.
3. Recycle ink cartridges.

Lead by example, be inspired.  Small changes DO make a difference so start now!

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Spring Cleaning

This article will save you time by removing items that ‘waste’ time from your business.

After being stuck inside for winter, spring is the traditional time to open the windows and let the fresh warmer air circulate and invigorate your home.  The longer days and brighter sunlight almost act like a refresher to your eyes.  The windows look dirty, the shelves dusty!

Interestingly the essence of Spring Cleaning is about getting organised……..everything comes back to being organised!!

In Australia Spring leads into Christmas into the long summer holiday and then the New Year.  It is a fantastic opportunity to organise you and your business.  It also tends to highlight the areas that aren’t organised.

Like at home ‘things’ in your business accumulate – both physically and in your head.  Take a look around you.  Does your workspace invigorate you?  Do you arrive into it each day and think ‘YES’ I am going to spend the day here and LOVE IT?!!! If the answer is no I recommend you block out some time in the next 2 weeks to:

• Cull rubbish.  Be ruthless.  If you haven’t read it/actioned it, either do so within 24 hours or bin/recycle it
• Archive what you legally need to keep.
• The walls – do they need a face lift?  Lick of paint, new artwork or something inspiring
• Is the business organised?  Does your team know what they are doing?  Do you know what you are doing and importantly do your clients know what you are doing!!
• Is the office organised?  Review your office systems – what works, what doesn’t work and what can be improved.

Recently in a Find Your Desk Under the Mess workshop, I worked with clients to set up some really simple but effective systems.  When you are reviewing yours remember the line ‘Keep it Simple Sweetie’!

The lead up to Christmas is a busy one both at work and at home.  Heaps of social functions and clients who want their work completed before the end of the year.  As the pressure builds the key to remaining sane is

• to be organised
• beat procrastination and
• make smart choices about what you say yes to!

When you say ‘Yes’ to something always consider what you are saying ‘No’ to.

Remember to take time for yourselves…….do you want Santa to find you dozing over the presents that still need wrapping on Christmas Eve?!!

Hot Tip

Each week between now and Christmas spend at least 15 minutes organising and planning for the week ahead.  Review what you wanted to achieve next year and organise yourself to make it happen.

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How to manage your email

Oversized ‘to do’ lists are intimidating and rarely get ‘done’. Your email has the potential to work in the same way. It can slow your day and interrupt productivity.

Do you sit at your desk and read everything that comes in but take no action and leave it sitting in your in-box?  The in-box can work like a gigantic ‘to do’ list that anyone can add to… whenever they like. Managing your emails effectively will save you time.

Ideally, your in-box should only have current or unread emails in it.  Once you open a message you need to do one of the following:

• action it immediately
• delete it
• file it for follow up/action.

For example – if you subscribe to e-newsletters you could keep them in a ‘to read’ folder and schedule in time to read through them all – maybe last thing on a Friday when you want to wind down.

If you have to phone people then put them into a ‘to call’ folder with a follow up date to remind you. Most email software have inbuilt functions that help you do this.

Checking email can be a time consuming task and I find that clients don’t allocate long enough to handle it effectively.  When you arrive at your desk allow at least 20 minutes without interruptions so that you can action and set follow-ups for new messages.  Depending on how many messages you receive a day set another 20 minutes after lunch and again before you leave.

Remember you manage it – it doesn’t manage you!

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Learn how to manage projects the Sorted way.

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Archiving and Opportunity

Archiving is an excellent opportunity to cull all your files and create the ‘space’ (both mental and physical) for new things in the year ahead.

Here are some guidelines

þ  Choose your archive boxes carefully – plastic protects from moisture and rodents but check for the rail either side to hang your files

þ  Clearly label each box on an end and side

þ  Create a label with:

• Archive or Box Number
• Area of the business files are from
• Summary of Contents
• Year documents were created
• Year to be destroyed

þ  Make a simple archive record by printing 3 copies of the label – 2 for the box and put one into a display book in number order.  Alternatively use Excel or Access to make it searchable 

This is a perfect time of year to form new habits…….Action or Cull – Do it or Lose it!

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Comfort at work

Arriving at your desk each day can and should be a pleasant experience.  Whether your main place of work is an office or a Ute it can be set up to be comfortable.

Is everything you use close to hand?

If you are a tradesman do you have a box with your most commonly used tools/equipment that you can take with you?  In an office is the printer close by, the phone next to you, pens handy, files easily accessible?  I often see clients walking across an office to get a file a couple of times an hour and their desk drawer is full of stuff they might use once a year.  If the file is stored close by you are more motivated to put it back each time!

Small changes can make a big difference so this month consider your comfort at work.  Sometimes just moving the furniture and altering where you store files can have a big impact on time and comfort.

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