I’m not too keen on a business that stands still – are you?
I’m more motivated by seeing positive change by ensuring I work on marketing and new development within the business for 96 days of the year… want to know why this works and how you can do it too?…
ROCKS FIRST The question I know you are all asking is “why 96? And how did you get to that number?” To get this right from the start, you have to first think about your entire year and allocate, on a calendar, those things that are MOST important. For me, that’s school holidays. These are blocked out first. I know my productivity will not be at its peak within this time. I also schedule all the events and holidays I have planned. This way the babysitters are booked well in advance and the family commitments are taken care of.
If I didn’t do the rocks first, it would be like trying to fit rocks in the jar after you’ve filled it with sand and water. If the rocks represent the important things, then make sure you put them in first. With this complete I know I won’t over commit and can look at specific Focus Days at a weekly level. It’s about setting myself up to know that ‘YES I can do this!’
DEDICATED FOCUS DAYS These are Marketing and Business Development Days. The most important activities you can do to ensure you ‘stay alive’ as a business and continue to grow. For me this occurs one day each week to work on new marketing activities and contact leads. That’s about 48 days of solid focus on marketing (excluding holiday periods) within a year. Do you think you might get traction on that website, marketing campaign or follow up on quotes if you did this? Do you think you might increase your leads this way? Absolutely.
I can hear your protests, “but I just don’t have time for that!” and ‘I’ll be interrupted anyway”. Well what happens to the business if you don’t? The best way to make sure this happens is to theme your day to stay focused on one topic. This will help improve traction immediatey.
THEME YOUR DAY If you were to allocate one specific day within a week (say a Wednesday) to work only on marketing activities, do you think you might have a better chance of completing the work you set and ticking boxes? You bet.You also won’t book non-marketing activities on that day because you have a focus.
I’ve even gone so far as to develop a ‘Weekly Planner’ that helps me visually see ‘what’ I am working on within a day. Wednesday is immediately blocked out for marketing and development, and Tuesday is an Admin day to ensure we stay on top of the finances and paperwork. Then I chunk it down even further. As an example this Wednesday might be: 9-10am is website improvements and check Analytics, 10:30am – 11;30am is calls to the local schools and 12:30 – 1:30pm is testimonials – sending emails to customers and thank you responses.
There is no better way to improve your output and efficiency than to work on ONE THING at a time. Multi-tasking is for the birds! How can anyone possibly write some copy for the website and complete the design for the advertising brochure at the same time? Impossible.
That said, you can achieve MORE if you stay focused on one key theme and break that down to specific time allocated tasks.
With two days a week already allocated to marketing/business development and admin that’s 96 days a year to work on growing the business.
TAKE A BREAK and FOCUSED TIME I definitely think it is important NOT to completely fill up your calendar in a day. You need to allow breaks between each different task to get up off your chair, move your legs and break your thought patterns. It helps you ‘get back in the zone’ if you get the blood flowing through your body through movement.
This break time is good to check in with your team to see if they have any pressing questions before you set yourself up for another ‘block’ of focused time.
Focused time, like a set hour to complete the copy for the website page, is highly efficient if you minimise distractions. You need to remove anything that takes your attention away from where you ‘should be’. Switch your phone to silent, turn off your emails so you aren’t tempted to ‘take a peek’ at who is contacting you (sabotaging your day, might I add…. A thought for another day!) and have a glass of water or tea/coffee near by.
It is important to do everything to ‘help yourself’ stay on that seat for the agreed period of time you allocated to get the task DONE. Trust me, you’ll feel better once you have achieved that goal.
No more ‘squeezing in’ marketing and business development where you can. No more racing through the P&L. Block out time for the task that it deserves by allocating a set theme day and chunking down your time. You’ll be 96 days of focused positive outcomes better off.
CLICK HERE for your Free Downloadable ‘Weekly Planner’
Book a 15-minute Game Plan Call with Andy, owner of Dr. DRiP plumbing and co-founder of Lifestyle Tradie, to clarify your priorities and get clear action steps.
