Taken literally, time management in business is a myth. With an unchanging 24 hours in a day, time cannot be saved, turned back, or made up. The only option is to manage our behavior in order to make the best use of working hours. In other words, time doesn’t change, but your business practices can.
Soffront Software, specializing in cloud CRM solutions that enhance productivity, shares these time management techniques so that busy sales and marketing executives can work efficiently and sell more.
Track your use of time
In Ancient Greece, the oracle at Delphi famously advised, “Know thyself.” The most important time management tip at work is knowing how you spend your time. How much time do you spend reading e-mails, surfing the Internet, making personal phone calls, or chatting with coworkers?
Track your workday activity for a week using a time management application or a scheduling function on your calendar if available. Once you identify wasted or poorly used time, you can set goals and implement a plan to change your behavior. However, don’t try to rearrange your entire schedule at once. Instead, set limits and stick to them. For example, cut intra-office chatter to 15 minutes or spend at most an hour on e-mail daily.
Delegate responsibilities
Are you consistently working 12 or more hours a day and still not getting everything done? If keeping up with your workload is still a struggle, it might be time to delegate or outsource some of those tasks.
Consider the duties you were hired to perform. Is scheduling really a part of your job? Are you responsible for ordering supplies? If you were hired for your sales or marketing expertise, your team will benefit more if you are able to focus on those responsibilities.
Make efficient use of tools
What do you do with your e-mail? E-mail can be one of the most effective time management tools at your disposal if handled properly. The key is to take any necessary action on each e-mail as it is read rather than wait and let your inbox pile up with overdue items.
If the email includes a specific time or date to schedule, enter it in your calendar. If it includes a to-do item, add it to your list. If it is a contact from a client, enter the data into your customer relationship software.
Remember that it usually takes more time and energy to revisit an item than it does to address it now.
Make it a habit
American philosopher Will Durant summarized Aristotle’s take on habitual behavior when he noted, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Most of us have developed at least a few bad working habits, and over time they’ve become ingrained and difficult to drop. By setting goals and sticking to them, we can use good time management tools to form the habits we need to succeed.
For information about how Soffront’s integrated CRM solution simplifies time management and increases productivity, visit our website.
