Do You Repeat Over And Over?

Are you doing the same things over and over? Do you find yourself asking your staff

repeatedly to follow up with customers? Are you having to ask for updates on projects?

If you describe what you do in a typical day using words such as "continually," "constantly," "frequently," "always," this may be a symptom of a gap in your systems and procedures.

If you find yourself answering the same or similar questions, this is a signal you may want to develop a system that addresses the issue. For example, if potential customers typically ask the same questions, add a "Frequently asked Questions" to your website.

If you find yourself asking employees about follow up with clients, develop a checklist.

-- 1st contact - return phone call within 24 hours of initial call

-- 2nd contact - email 2 days following initial call

-- 3rd contact - postcard 1 week after email

-- 4th contact - phone call 1 week after postcard

-- 5th contact - ...

You'll love the consistent approach and your employees will love not having you bug them!

If you're asking employees for status reports, turn the tables and help your employees develop a habit of self reporting. This could take the form of a status report the employee updates Monday morning and Wednesday afternoon.

The employee saves the report on a network drive (where you can access it anytime you choose) or they can send an email with the status report. What's most important is developing the habit - you, the habit of expecting an update, the employee, the habit of regularly providing it.

Regardless of the issue that comes up over and over for you, putting a system or procedure in place allows you to spend time working on your business - not doing the same thing over and over.

If you've ever been involved with taking an animal to the county fair or your dog to a show, you know there are certain steps to be taken - a good haircut, a bath, nails manicured, etc. The same is true of the elephant or, in this case, your big To-Do. Can you focus on just one piece of the project - just groom one foot?

Take just 15 minutes and think about what four segments you could divide this one project into. What foot would you step forward with? List the sequence of steps it would take to accomplish this first segment. OK, time's up. Tomorrow, spend another 15 minutes working on step one... Ahhh, see you've already started working on the elephant - one foot at a time!

by: Cheryl E. Cook

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