Get Organized! Master Paper & Technology

Do you feel like Superman but when you get around technology it turns into kryptonite? Do you become weak and frustrated?  Do you sometimes feel powerless over technology? Do you need organization? Tamara has found the antidote to cure you!

Do you have more than ten business cards on your desk right now?  If so, I’m talking to you!  The average person spends ten hours a week looking for information; that means you had a note on a piece of paper and maybe you scanned it into your computer but it’s also in a pile somewhere.  Or maybe you have a phone number on a business card but that card is at your office and you now have to search online for that persons contact info.  Ten hours a week!  We’ve heard from the Time Management experts, “Check your email twice a day, touch that piece of paper once.”  Yikes!  “I have that piece of paper and I’ve been holding it for two hours—um where did I put it? Oh I bought the organizational system for papers but now I’m so organized (too organized) I can’t find that one piece of paper that I touched once and I need to touch it again, but I can’t find it!”

Any full-time sales person should be making 40-100 dials a day, but lets face it, only a handful of sales professionals do that and only if  their organization system set up.  If you have your contacts stored in Gmail, Outlook or I Cloud and you are not organizing your contacts into category groups, then you are not organized.

The best definition i’ve found of determining if you are organized is… If you can find what you are looking for within 30 seconds, then you are organized. 

The key to success is getting a system in place that makes sense.  Your paper files and electronic files and emails and contacts must be systematized to work together.  You must have a labeling system so that these separate entities can get along.  What I see happening to a lot of people is  they might have mastered paper files but don’t know how to get that information into their computer for easy access.  The best example is sales people that have a company CRM but use excel to manage contacts.  That is INSANE!  it would be better to manage your contacts in your email account and organize them into groups and enter notes into the actual contact notes section.  Schedule follow-ups per category group and then when a prospect calls you, you can then see all of the notes on your phone.

Time is emotional and until you learn to master your internal demons and practice certain daily disciplines, I’m afraid you will remain stuck.  Personally, I have struggled with time management/organization and that’s probably why I am so obsessed with it.  If you don’t know how to manage your time, other people will rule your schedule.  If you don’t honor your time (which means honoring your word) don’t be surprised if your clients disrespect you.

You must take control of your time and manage your clients in a more systematic, professional manner.  Take back the control of your day and your time!