How to make the most of your time
Sep 7 2009 by Iain Laing, The Journal
HOW many times have you said, “there just aren’t enough hours in the day”? As a business owner you will sometimes have to wear many different hats for different parts of your business so finding the time to do everything can be difficult.
It is not a matter of working harder but working smarter! There is a difference between activity and achievement. A person can be busy all day long without actually achieving anything.
The solution is to develop a time organisation system, to make better use of your time in the office.
At the end of every day make a list of jobs you need to do the following day and number them in order of importance. The following day, start at number one on your list and keep at it until you complete the list.
But how do you prioritise your day activities – paperwork, selling, training, problems etc? This, of course, has to vary according to responsibilities in the business. But as a business owner your key task must always be to win more sales and retain customers.
You should look at your working time spent with clients, customers, or prospective customers. If you could find an extra 5% of your time a day by better planning and organisation, or by cutting down on lunch or extra breaks, this could be an extra 20 minutes of your day.
Spend that extra 20 minutes a day productively. Phone that client you have been meaning to ring for a week, chase that proposal up. Spend this time purely communicating with your customers and you could increase your sales figures by a third.
What about email? This can be a big time-waster in your day. We have all come back from holiday to find 400-plus emails in the inbox which takes the majority of your day to clear, only to find say, four or five that are useful.
Before sending an email or replying back straight away, ask yourself: Why are you sending it?, Is it really important?, Does the recipient really need this email or am I wasting their time?
Set aside admin time late mornings and afternoons to answer and respond to emails. Make yourself a time-management checklist to enable you to maximise your most valuable resource – your time.
Remember to get your priorities right; make a ‘to do’ list every night; prioritise that list; don’t let others waste your time and keep emails to a minimum. Time really is money, don’t waste it!
Carole White, business support manager, TEDCO
If you would like further advice from TEDCO or help with market sector research and finding new customers, call (0191) 428 3535 or e-mail starting@tedco.org
