Monday Blues or “Make Money” Monday?nMondays-love them or hate them. Do you look at Mondays as the exciting opening to a productive week? Hold high expectations coupled with a brilliantly executed plan? Or are your Mondays a slap in the face reality, back to the grind, mark time to the next weekend?nSuccess doesn’t just ‘happen’; it is a culmination of expectations, planning and actions. Creating a brilliant plan means utilizing the weekend to its fullest so that you’re out of the gate prepared and ready to go, expecting great results first thing Monday morning. Weekends need to include your hobbies and family. They are the grounding factor that will help keep you focused the rest of the week. Turning great expectations into powerful results can only happen when you take the actions necessary to achieve it. nUse the weekend to organize your thoughts, action and time blocks for the upcoming week. Take 45 minutes to catch up on business reading, reviewing the calendar and writing notes and thank yous’ to those you met within the last week. Organize whatever you will need for the week and have it ready to go at a moments notice. Then, spend the rest of the time enjoying your family and friends and rejuvenating for the new week!nThe number one dollar productive activity for any sales professional is prospecting. If prospecting is number one, then following up leads is number two. In order to keep this activity flow consistent, time-block each activity or it will never get done. Eliminate all the disruptions, distractions and time robbers that can happen on Mondays. Listening to fellow associates telling all the details of their lives that happened over the weekend may be fun but it is a distraction to your goals. Give yourself 10 minutes to join in the office repartee. Create a daily time-block that allows you to do the important tasks necessary to run your business and allows you the time to be hospitable. There are only so many hours in a given work day and time blocking will provide the organization to accomplish everything. Review the following sample of time-blocking schedule that could work for you on Mondays and throughout the week:n6-7 am- As the old saying goes, “the early bird catches the worm”! Catch up on emails, review who you will be prospecting, write out thank you cards to those that you met throughout the weekend. Review your goals for the week and finalizing the 4 to 7 most important tasks** that will greatly improve your operation systems.n7-8am-Spend a few minutes catching up with others about their weekend (no more than 10 minutes). Plan meeting time with your team evaluating the “pipeline” of prospects and clients. Allow team members to update where they are with their projects and where additional help is needed to complete their tasks.n8-10am-Begin calling your referral sources and pipeline of leads and clients. During any concentrated phoning and meetings with your team make a point of turning off email alerts and only take calls from clients that are an absolute necessity at this time. Change your voice mail often, outlining exactly when you will be returning calls. If possible, direct callers to a member of your team that can solve problems in your absence.n10-11am-Catch up on emails, and return phone calls.n11-12pm- Lunch break. Bring your own lunch; take a walk outside, catch-up on memos and what the finance markets are doing. Work on the 4-7 most important tasks** that need to be completed. If lunch outside the office is a necessity, limit your time away from the office to one hour.n12-1pm-Check in with your team to make sure that their task list is advancing smoothly. Continue to work on your task list. Return any lingering voice mails.n1-3pm-Specifically focus on the “250”** list; calling on your sphere of influence and professional referral sources, and setting appointments.n3-5pm-Face-to-face appointments, and applications. Not all appointments are going to fit into the time block, but keeping like events clustered together will increase productivity and create time for new opportunities.n5:00pm-Head for home and time with the family. After dinner, take 45 minutes to prepare for the next day: shut off the phone at 7pm, shut down the emails, quickly prep and organize for the next day. Spend the rest of the evening for you and your family. n9pm-10pm-While catching up on the day’s news, also read business help books, and then finish reading something for pleasure. nTime-blocking your schedule will give you approximately six hours for prospecting. Ask yourself the question, “If I concentrated six hours a day prospecting, what would that do for my business and income?” nIf prospecting is the number one dollar prospecting activity, then you need to time-block it in or it will never get done. To control phone calls, consider changing your voice mail a few times during the day and let callers know you are in an appointment, and when they can expect you to return their calls. Make “fake appointments” throughout the day so that you can concentrate on completing important tasks or protecting your time for prospecting. Change your email and let senders know that you will be responding to emails at a certain time of day, utilizing the “out of office assistant” function in Microsoft Outlook. nExamine what gets in your way of accomplishing dollar-productive activities. Statistics show that average sales people spend only two hours a day focusing on selling and prospecting activities, the heart and soul of the sales profession. By time-blocking and eliminating distractions and interruptions, your Mondays thru Fridays will be singing “cha-ching” instead of the blues. n**References to “The 90 Day Journey” Action Plans.nTom Ninness is Vice President/Regional Production Manager for Cherry Creek Mortgage in Denver, CO. He is also the President of Summit Champions, Inc. and creator of the “The 90 Day Journey to Your Sales Success”, a powerful 90 day action plan for the sales professional. To learn more about The Journey and all what Summit Champions has to offer, go to
www.90dayjourney.com,
www.summitchampions.com or contact Tom at
information@summitchampions.com Office: 720-221-4396.nnn