Welcome to 2012….whoa, wait, brakes?!?!? 2012?! Yes, you read that right; the eve of the New Year is a few weeks away and resolutions are coming soon. When it comes to my resolutions, I know I’ve said, “I want to be more productive…” Being an advertising professional and an American, I know this time of year finds people swamped. From wrapping up last minute deals, new business being slow (unless you’re in retail hopefully) everyone is going on auto-pilot…and not necessarily thinking about 2012. So lucky you, I’ve read the books, the articles, even some blogs all about how to increase my productivity in the New Year; and in the spirit of holiday giving, I’m going to share some advice…and you’re welcome.
1) Have a big idea…but small steps to accomplish it…My dad used to give me the lame joke “how do you eat an elephant?” I’d say “how?” He’d laugh and reply “one bite at a time.” Make little steps to your big goal. Maybe cutting your advertising spend by 30% is a goal? Step 1, figure out where you spend it. Step 2, track your spend with call or web analytics. Step 3, toss what the marketing and advertising books tell you. Step 4, pick the medium that is increasing your ROI and spend it there, no matter what the salespeople tell you.
2) Consider how you work and make it work for you. Take some breaks during the day: get up, stretch, move around…basically up and out of that chair every 60-90 minutes (Hey boss, those 4 hour meetings are brain-killers). Let your brain recharge and get some glucose pumping again. If you’re making sales calls, is the call you made 5 minutes into your 90 minutes as good as the call made after 3 straight hours of dialing? Probably not.
3) Speaking of “making it work…” always live by “Plan your work, work your plan.” Have YOUR plan, no one else’s. You know what you need to get motivated and rocking. Does standing make your calls better? Maybe a chair made out of an exercise ball? Or coffee? Me? I’m a morning workout and Diet Rootbeer kinda girl…Whatever the “trick” is…do it, no matter who looks at you funny…it’s about making your calls count.
4) Stop with the multi-tasking. “Do more, see more, read more, be more, say yes more”….you hear it all the time. Let yourself focus on one task at a time. IQ points are proven to drop between 5-15 points when multi-tasking…seriously. For example, when you’re on a call, don’t E-mail at the same time. Focus, attack, hit a goal and move on. Your time will thank you.
5) My next one is going to sound pretty cliché as a member of a call tracking company’s team…Use your phone, really. 7+ emails in a chain to answer a question a 30 second phone call could have handled…insane….and a total time sink. Increase your productivity by dialing.
6) Use the tools you have. From co-workers, to social medias, adwords and even call tracking…utilize the tools that can make your work more fun, more effective, smoother, smarter and overall, just better.
7) SMILE! People that are happy work harder and are more productive. Part of my day is listening to calls, part is answering them…you get the picture. You can tell the people that are pumped about their day from the people that have the holiday blahs. 2012 is the year to make it happen, let’s get smiling and get productive.
Cheers!
Tags: 2012, call tracking, Customer Service, marketing, sales training, smile