ORGANISING

Activities

Minimize the time used in internal meetings, greeting colleagues, and wandering around the office.

Make sure you have an objective for every meeting and that you are prepared. Get to the point.

To do's

Use a some sort of method for keeping track of your to do list, and prioritize the list to make sure that you are focusing on the right tasks. Ensure that the list is achievable each day, otherwise postpone the less important tasks to another time.

Notes - history of events recorded for later

Keep notes of your meetings where you can easily access them for later. Modern computing provides you the capability to do this in Microsoft Outlook, or in contact management software like ACT, Goldmine, or SalesLogix for instance.

Record Information by projects or by person?

Organize your To Do's by person who you need to speak with to find out the answers for instance, or by customer or project for instance, if you need to ask the customer a number of questions the next time you speak with them.

Calendar & tel no's / addresses

Most importantly, ensure your contact list of contact telephone numbers, addresses, and E-mail addresses is stored just in case you are to lose your diary for some reason. More advanced methods enable you to classify contacts by Contact Status such as Forecast for customers that regularly buy, Prospect for people you are focusing on, Suspect for the less qualified prospects, and Lead for the unqualified prospect. Keeping contacts in a qualified classification enables you to sort by the classification and therefore send mailshots to a class of prospect, or even send Christmas Cards for instance, to your close friend and family classifications.

"The pillar which you cling to may be what obscures your vision."