Saving Time, Part II

Last week’s blog shared a few ideas from Andy Bounds on saving time, this week I wanted to continue to explore the conversation around saving time with a few things I have done to maximize my time!

Drive time: Many of us spend a great deal of time in our cars, and I have 2 recommendations on maximizing your driving time:
1) Try and schedule appointments in the same part of town around the same time of day. By scheduling in advanced and having 2-4 meetings in a similar area, you can reduce the time spent driving back & forth to appointments, as well as saving a few dollars in gas.
2) Have a plan for what to do while in the car. 2 of my favorite things to do while driving are making phone calls and educating myself. The Certified Networker Program recommends making “How are your doing?” phone calls to people in your network to help motivate them – I recommend keeping a list of people you want to call that day or that week to catch up. If not in the mood for a conversation, or it is too early in the morning or evening for a call, you can keep CDs or files on your iPhone/iPod/electronic device to listen to information to help with business and personal development.

Saving Time

Last week, some Certified Networkers and I brainstormed ways to save time in our life, and one of the tips that I shared came from a Tuesday Tips email newsletter that I receive from Andy Bounds.

He shared six ways to help you save time.
• Focus on the ‘do’ first: when communicating, focus first on what you want others to do after it, rather than first thinking what you want to say. Once you know the ‘do’, ask yourself ‘what is the minimum I need to say, to convince and help them to do it?’
• Shorten meetings: ten people meeting for an hour is ten man-hours of resource. Does the agenda really warrant that level of investment?
• Never read emails twice: opening an email, reading, closing and leaving it in your inbox leaves your ‘e-desk’ untidy… and means you will read it again (and again… and again). To make sure you never read emails twice, do one of the Ds: Deal with it, Delete it, Delegate it or Diarise to reply later. Then, remove it from your inbox.

What kind of car do you drive?

Just last week during the Certified Networker Program, we were discussing the importance in portraying your image… and I had a few thoughts that I thought could make a good blog.
It is important to keep both the interior and the exterior of your car neat & clean.
But what kind of car to drive could be the question? In the Certified Networker Program, we looked at a couple different options: driving up & driving down.
Imagine you were interviewing financial planners to invest $1,000,000, and the planner arrived in a 1985 wood paneled station wagon in rough condition… would you feel comfortable giving your money to someone driving a 30+ year old clunker? Is the planner’s vehicle in line with the image he is promoting?

Conversely, I met a health insurance agent who, after he bought a sporty, 2 door yellow car, he kept his older sedan to use when he was visiting seniors working on their medicare options, as he felt the new car would be to “showy” for his older clients.
Are we driving a fine line here in having too nice or not a nice enough car?

I have been pondering this dilemma over the past year or so… why?
I currently own a 2001 Honda Accord. I LOVE this car; bought it brand new off the truck, with less than one mile on it. I have had no major issues with the car, even though it has 187,930 miles (I am writing this in the car, but don’t worry, Rob is driving).
I have a car that runs well, still looks good, even if a little dated, should I buy a new car to match my image?
As a disclaimer, I have only owned one other car before the Accord, a 1990s Red Lebaron Convertible (pictured here with my brother & my golden retriever, a couple months after I turned 16). What made me decide to sell the convertible and get the Accord? Someone stole my car, and a couple days when the police came upon it with people driving it, when they tried to pull them over, the thieves JUMPED out of the moving vehicle, and it crashed into a few cars parked on the street, and was totaled!

What are your thoughts on vehicles speaking to your brand and should I be buying a new car soon?

Learning Everywhere!

I recently visited the Renaissance Festival in Tampa; it was my 1st time attending. I love the time period and reading fiction set in that era. I was surprised there to come up with a few ideas to help with my speaking.
I was watching the “Magic & Mayham” show, and pulled two tips from the event.
The 1st tip, which I loved, but I am not sure yet how to work into my presentations…
The performers shared we wanted to be really rowdy and inspire more people to come over to be in the audience… because the more people in the audience, the less likely we would be to be pulled up to be the “volunteer”.
If you have ideas how I can convert/utilize this in my presentation??? Love to hear from you! 

2nd thing I saw that I enjoyed at the presentation, they were asking for “donations” for items they were selling, it came across very well!

 Where do you pick up ideas for your business? Please share both the “norm” ideas, as well as some outside of the box!

Would you like a piece of gum?

I was recently in a one to one and we were chatting about getting “NOs” when asking for the sell or the referral, and that it’s okay to get a “NO”.
Unfortunately, many people are afraid of getting that “NO”, because they will feel rejected.
The person I was meeting with then paralleled getting “NOs” when asking for the referral or sell with asking people if they want a piece of gum.
Think about it… Do you offer people gum or mints ever? You are being nice, trying to offer them a treat, and it is okay if they choose to accept or not.
I then, feverously, wrote down GUM = Referrals = NOs, so that I would remember to write this very blog.

Are we mutually exclusive?

I recently sat down with a professional that I have known for many years to do a one to one. As we were starting the meeting, she asked me a question that left me a little uncomfortable, “Are we at V, C, or P?”
(click here for more information on the VCP Process)
Now, this is not the first time I have been asked this question by a professional, but it has been a while…

I then started thinking why is it so awkward, and the answer I came up with was what if I said the wrong thing? (after the fact, I thought I should have turned it back onto her, and asked her where she through we were in our relationship) What if I said we were at C and she thought we were at P?
And it made me recall the dating scene… that hard conversation to bring up of “Are we mutually exclusive?” If you ask too early when you are dating, you could scare away your potential partner…
Or what if you ask, thinking that you are only seeing each other, only to have him/her say that they are still seeing other people. It can be scary to jump into unknown territory, ask a question when the answer is unknown.

March Madness, the next step to the Championship

Last year this time I shared a blog about March Madness, and how word of mouth marketing is similar to basketball… on your team you need superstars & your starting 5, bench players and a coach. Hopefully you have your team already picked out (if not, maybe you want to go check out that blog). 

Now that you have your team of players, what do you need to do to get them WINNING?
1^st they are going to need a play book, filled with the moves you want them to use to win.
What is some of the information you might want to include in your play book?

• What is a good prospect for you? (and perhaps who is not)