First Things First For Manufacturers

Doesn’t it seem like everybody is extremely busy these days?Do you find it impossible to get someone to call or email you back?

My belief is that there is an information overload going on and most people act upon the latest fire that is in front of them. People get so engrossed in their seemingly immediate needs that they lose sight of the things

that need to be done including things like:

• Strategic planning
• Business transition planning
• Reviewing your Balance sheet and P & L sheet
• Taking a vacation?

 So, you ask, what can you do?

As someone who has, at times, had difficulty focusing on “real” needs instead of dealing with the last phone call, I found that the surest way of keeping on track is to setup times in a calendar for working on essential tasks. You don’t have to schedule times for the entire list of tasks everyday. 

But you’ve got to schedule them throughout the days, weeks and months and then commit to doing the task right then regardless of what else comes up. No Matter What!

This may seem like a glorified “To Do” list. It’s not. “To Do” lists generally don’t work because we see the list, get overwhelmed and move on to whatever comes to mind next (back into the old habit).

You may even want to add some CRM (Customer Relations Management) software to track contacts with your customers. Most of the better ones can track phone calls, emails (to and from), newsletters and most anything you may want to track (ex. birthdays). In order to maximize the value, you’ll have to be a bit compulsive about entries but it’s worth it.

We only get a certain amount of time to accomplish our goals in our personal and business lives. Make that time count by working on the things that matter and have the greatest impact first. The rest will take care of itself. Or better yet, delegate the less important tasks (More about this in future blogs).

Schedule away!