Hey, time for another Fast Tip Friday concept to help you get yourself in a more consistently productive manner. I know recently we talked about consistency in activity, but before you actually can do your activity, you might want to do a little planning. So invest in planning, and the word that's really critical there is invest.
When we invest in things, it means we put something in to get more back. I really believe that in business development, if you don't have a plan, you're not going to get anywhere near the maximized opportunity that you can have in a really magical career. Being in sales, being in business development, can give you more opportunities, more fun, more excitement, more relationships, the opportunity to grow and make as much as you want, so I think we should really use that as a compelling reason to be more disciplined and invest in planning. I also started thinking about this idea...
I've been doing some work with my financial planner and I said, "this has a lot to do with the way people should be thinking about their business development businesses." You have a retirement and BD plan, it's a plan. It's not a crap shoot. If you don't work with someone that can tell you how to manage your money, think strategically, invest in this, but not in that, minimize your risk to create the better opportunities, you're probably going to come up short. If you think you're going to figure it all out on your own, I wish you the best of luck. I know there's some of you out there that can do it. I'm not one of those people. So I have committed to invest in a relationship with a planner. I think you should invest in the relationship with planning for your business. So make a commitment to save. Make a commitment to prospect. Make a commitment to track your prospecting. Don't just throw a bunch of stuff at the wall and see what sticks, and then review your plans performance. Don't make a plan and then go, Well, I made a plan and then not know how it's working. Learn that plans are flexible, plans are amendable, plans are changeable to get better results.
I also think a couple other concepts are really applicable at this point. One hour of planning, if done right with the right information, can lead to 10 hours of more effective and more productive activity. So that's a great ROI equation right there. Commit to one hour a week, even less than an hour will give you that type of return on investment for being more deliberate, being more thoughtful, being more focused in the work and activity that you're going to do to maximize your career opportunity.
We think if you commit to a Monday morning launch hour, to sit down each Monday and really look at what your week looks like, then take that Monday afternoon - Friday morning to do your high impact activities. But the key is to plan them. Don't just get in your car and drive around and think you're going to find the next opportunity. Have a plan, know where you want to go, know what you want to engage people about, and have a professional attitude about your success.
Then review on Friday afternoons, I make the appointments that I intended to make. Did I get clear next steps set up? Do I know what is the highest priority activities next week? Do I put them in my calendar first? So take Friday afternoon to learn some lessons about your effectiveness and where you're at your best, or where you need to be better.
To sum it all up, I'd like you to think about making your success intentional. Give up letting it be accidental. Those that plan will outperform those that hope. Be a planner. Don't let hope be your strategy and take that out. Have a great weekend and have a great Monday, planning your success for next week. Be your best, be your brightest, be your most satisfied, and be your most productive.
Take care.
