(Time to read this Blog is about 2.5 minutes)
Before we get to the main topic, here are a few things to get you thinking:
- My Biz Quote of the week:
“Will your 2022 ‘Sales Commitment’ be built on hope…or on specific, effective and measurable value & customer experience improvements, staffing decisions, systems & process upgrades, performance measurements and targeted marketing & sales activities?”
…Donald Cooper - Do you have the ‘magic combo’ in your business? The magic combination of ‘work and laughter’ is so important, so energizing and so stress-reducing. But, many businesses fail to achieve that. For them, it’s either all laughs and no work…and we know how that ends.
And for some it’s all work and no laughs, no joy and no celebration. And that will end badly too as the best people leave in search of a better culture in which to work. ‘High turnover of staff is their emotionally healthy response to your emotionally unhealthy culture’.
All my Biz Coaching clients have achieved this magic combo of ‘work and laughter’ and the impact of that on efficiency, engagement, staff retention and profitability is awesome!
One additional thought. You can’t have this magical combo of ‘work and laughter’ if the Team members don’t like each other. ‘Fix or fire’ the toxic, perpetually negative people on your Team.
‘Big Mac’ fun fact. When first introduced in 1967, a Big Mac was just 45 cents. Now, in the US, it costs around $5.65. It would be $8.32 on a straight dollar inflation basis, so, Mc Donald’s has found efficiencies of 32% over the years.
What is your plan to operate more efficiently in 2022? Reducing operating expenses by just 5% could grow your bottom line by 20%.
Now, to this week’s important topic:
The world is run by those who follow up:
As a business owner, leader or manager, your job is not to do it all, but to make sure that it all gets done. So, here are two tips to help you be more effective in 2022 and beyond.
Tip #1: Every time you assign a project or task to someone, ask the magical 10- word sentence that changes everything, “By when can we agree that this will be completed?”. Negotiate a commitment that’s reasonable, doable and addresses your sense of urgency. Every time you make a request or place an order with a supplier, ask the same question.
Now here’s the key. Document the commitment and always follow up. The world is run by those who follow up. Your Team and your suppliers will quickly learn that you run a business, or department, based on clarity, commitment, urgency and accountability. This is not done out of meanness. It’s done out of a realization that businesses don’t die from a single shot to the head. They die, slowly but surely, from a thousand uncompleted tasks. Click here to download my Biz Tool #B-26, ‘How to delegate, get more done and grow your people…without losing control.’
Tip #2: This follow-up tip has to do with emails. I receive about 130 emails a day and send out over 40. When I send an email (I’m on Outlook) to someone that will require follow-up, I ‘Blind Copy’ myself. When that email comes into my inbox, I use the red flag ‘Follow-up’ function in the header ribbon to pick a month, day and time of day (for me, it’s always 9 am) for this reminder to pop up on my screen. When that email title has been flagged for a ‘Follow-up’, that title automatically gets highlighted in yellow in my Outlook inbox.
In the right column of my Outlook inbox page, I have a folder titled ‘aaa Monthly Follow-Ups’ with sub-folders for each month. The ‘aaa’ is to keep that folder near the top of the menu where I can get to it quickly. I then drag and drop the yellow highlighted email into the month in which I want to follow up, and at 9 am on the appropriate day, a box will pop up listing all the emails to be followed up.
Also, in the right column of Outlook, I create a sub-folder for every speaking client in a master ‘Speaking Clients’ folder and every Biz Coaching Client in a similar master folder titled ‘Biz Coaching Clients’. This is where I store all emails relating to each specific client so that I have a complete record of all email correspondence. In addition, in that same right-hand column in Outlook I have alphabetically listed folders for Travel Destinations, ‘Fun Stuff to do With Grandson Gus’, Medical Info and anything else I want to keep track of so that, when the time comes, I can access all the info I need.
Most of you probably use some sort of smart phone or laptop ‘Bring Forward Calendar’, but using my Outlook system for following up and keeping track of all the email info I need to be effective, gives me the easily retrieved history on hundreds of clients and subjects. If you have any questions about this, email me at donald@donaldcooper.com.
That’s it for this week…
Stay safe…live brilliantly!
Donald Cooper
Donald Cooper speaks and coaches internationally on management, marketing, and profitability. He can be reached by email at donald@donaldcooper.com in Toronto, Canada.
