Recently, I met a businesswoman who is, to put it mildly, vastly disorganized. She spends considerable time on manual and repetitive data entry. She’s drowning in email inquiries. She spends a lot of time telling story after story to prove herself “right.” And unfortunately, she continues to be drawn to sexy “time saving” software that promises to help her manage the mess she has created.
I explained to her the greatest time-saving software programs won’t help a bit if they aren’t used properly. And continuing to add more and more of them only serves to increase frustration, confusion, and inefficiency.
This woman would do well to go slow now so she can go fast later.
By “going slow” she should spend time figuring out how to systematically communicate with those potential customers who send her email inquiries, regardless of the system she uses. She should do online advertising that is simple, repeatable, and effective to bring in more customers. And by taking the time to find the right database program, she’ll eliminate repetitive manual data entry and having to personalize email responses over and over.
Unfortunately, I think this woman won’t be willing to go slow first. She’s frustrated, overwhelmed, and feels if she slows down for even a few hours, her business will fall to pieces. She wants a quick fix – but there simply isn’t one.
I encouraged her to begin getting clear on her priorities as they relate to business: customers, activities that drive company profit, obvious money makers. She is spending too much time trying to discover the latest and greatest way to “get organized” when in reality she should be focusing the essence of what makes her business work – providing products and service for customers. For instance:
- How do we stay in business (i.e. generate revenue)?
What actions create excellent customer service?
What actions drive new product creation?
Who are the key people in my organization?
Who are my key clients, suppliers, or customers?
How do I stay in touch with them regularly?
What information sources do I need to review regularly?
Break that down and the organization of it all will become apparent.
“Going slow” allows us to stop and think through the answers to the questions above. It opens up space for us to ask, “Why?” and “then what happens?” Those two questions are crucial for breaking down your business operations into manageable pieces. From there you chart processes, systems and repeatable steps.
It’s true – systems aren’t sexy. Some are simple as a checklist on a piece of paper. But once you create them, tweak them, and get them working, they sure are effective. And much more effective than trying 20 different “productivity-promising” software programs, don’t you think?
That being said, I’d LOVE to hear the productivity and time-saving programs that either worked marvelously for you – or were a bigger waste of time than you ever imagined. Do share!
The biggest productivity tool for me has been a strong filter. It’s more an attitude or discipline than a “system.”
We are all inundated with more information than we have time to process — and there are just lots of things that may be interesting but will probably not have impact on the business. The key is to let some things go — in order to focus on those things that really matter to us and our clients.
I allow myself 30 to 45 minutes each day to read non-essential emails. Messages like this newsletter that may well give me new food for thought.