Staying Focused on Your Career Mission: Key Strategies for Success
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Chapter 1: Understanding Your Mission
You’re likely feeling confident about your path. You’ve articulated your career mission, established aligned goals, and even crafted a daily priority list. You might think that effective time management will naturally follow, right? Not quite! As your productivity increases, you will encounter tough decisions. Making the right choices can elevate your career, while poor decisions may lead to disappointment.
Consider the story of Ted, a fictional composite of numerous sales professionals. Ted has recently undergone significant changes in his career, enhancing both his prospecting and presentation skills. As a result, he’s now facing challenges he never experienced before: an overwhelming number of clients pulling him in various directions, inadequate customer service due to missed calls and follow-ups, and a growing distance from his family as he spends more time away from home. Sound familiar?
These challenges are common, and unfortunately, many in sales may inadvertently sabotage their own success when confronted with such dilemmas. Dr. Joyce Brothers once said, "We cannot consistently perform at a level inconsistent with our own self-image." This resonates with many salespeople who approach newfound success with skepticism, struggling to adapt to a new self-perception. Rather than embracing their achievements, they may regress to their previous behaviors.
Most salespeople don’t wake up and consciously decide to fail. Instead, they start making poor choices that lead to self-sabotage and career setbacks. So, how can you thrive professionally without becoming overwhelmed? How can you continue to provide exceptional service to your clients while avoiding burnout from 80-hour workweeks?
Let’s explore effective strategies to stay focused on your mission:
Section 1.1: Prioritize Tasks Effectively
Relegate, Delegate, Terminate (RDT)
Take a close look at your to-do list (you do have one, right?). You might find it overflowing with tasks. What to do? Implement the RDT method:
Relegate: Identify which tasks are essential for achieving your long-term goals. These are your priorities and must be tackled first.
- Delegate: Assess if there’s someone else who can handle certain tasks. Can you outsource them, hire help, or assign them to someone else? Savvy salespeople delegate as much as they can.
- Terminate: Eliminate unnecessary tasks from your list. Are there items that are merely busywork? If you can’t remove them entirely, at least place them at the bottom of your list.
Section 1.2: Customer Selection
Cut the Dead Wood
As your career progresses, you may find it impractical to work with every client. It’s vital to choose your clients wisely. This may seem harsh, but it’s a crucial aspect of time management: knowing which priorities truly matter. Not all customers are created equal. Here are some criteria to help qualify them:
Motivation Level: Are they genuinely interested in buying?
- Timing: Are they ready to act now, or are they hesitating?
- Ability: Are they capable of closing the deal?
Subsection 1.2.1: Handling Paper Efficiently
Deal with Paper Once
How many times do you find yourself moving a piece of paper around your desk? More than once, I bet! We often delay dealing with paperwork, allowing it to pile up. The solution? Adopt the one-touch rule. Each piece of paper should be handled only once:
File It: Place it where it belongs—off your desk!
- Toss It: Most of what crosses your desk is unnecessary.
- Deal With It: If it requires your attention, take action immediately.
Aim to set aside a specific time each day to handle paperwork, address it, and move on.
Automate Your Tasks
Consider how much time it takes to make ten phone calls—looking up numbers, dialing, and discussing. To streamline this process, focus on the purpose of your call and get to the point promptly. Your contacts will appreciate your efficiency.
Email is another time-saving option. Sending out the same message to multiple recipients is much quicker than calling each one individually. Top performers condition their customers to expect primarily email communication, with occasional phone calls.
Track Your Time
Can you remember what you did last week? It’s often challenging to recall even what you did earlier in the day! To enhance your time management skills, you need to evaluate your activities against their outcomes. This is akin to calculating your return on investment (ROI).
To assess your time management effectiveness, maintain a time log for a week. Record all your business activities and analyze your success against these actions. If your efforts aren’t yielding results, it might be time to reassess how you’re investing your time.
Chapter 2: Practical Videos for Further Learning
To complement these strategies, check out the following videos that provide additional insights:
Video 1: 10 Must-Do's Before Submitting Your Mission Papers
This video outlines essential steps to take before submitting your mission documents, ensuring that you’re fully prepared and focused on your goals.
Video 2: Just Got Home From A Mission... Now What?
In this video, learn what to do after completing a mission, including strategies for reintegration and maintaining your focus on your career mission.