I hope that each of you had as wonderful a spring holiday as I had. If you celebrate Passover, I hope your Seders were awesome (I know the food was at mine), if you celebrate Easter I hope you and your family had a very happy Easter filled with all the sweet Easter treats, if you don’t celebrate either of these I hope that you had a great time at whatever you did.
Last week my wife and daughter were both off for their Spring Holiday, I also took the week off from posting but didn’t take a week off from learning, observing and training.
Because I was technically “OFF” last week I didn’t have a lot of interaction with reps, but I had plenty with my wife and daughters. One of the more interesting interactions (a fancy word for friendly battle) happened when my daughter sat at my desk to use the computer. She took one look at my desk and hit the ceiling about what she called my MESS.
She told me about how organized she is and how clean her desk is at work. She said that I had to lose things and that the mess was out of control.
Here is where I had a training moment with my daughter. I explained to her that everyone has their own method of organizing their lives. Some keep things neat and some a little less neat. What I told her was that the looks of my desk didn’t diminish the effectiveness of my desk. I told her that I had a system I used that worked fine for me and that I can find anything I need as quickly as she can find things on her neat desk.
She just didn’t believe me so I had to demonstrate. With my daughter sitting at my desk, I went downstairs and called her on the phone. I then proceeded to guide her around my desk and telling her exactly what she would find and where it will be. It only took me about 3 minutes to make a believer out of her.
I came back upstairs and we had a good discussion about organization and the skill set involved. What I told her is that it didn’t matter what the system was that someone uses, the important thing is to have a system and use it. As long as it is a system that can be used every day, and IS used every day. As long as it is a system that the person can understand and follow and as long as nothing gets lost or misplaced the system is good.
This now brings me to you the sales reps. What kind of system do you have to assure that you don’t lose or forget anything? What do you do every day to keep yourself on top of tasks and makes sure you do what you need to when it needs to be done?
I have seen reps use their computers or smart phones to keep them on track, I have also seen reps that write everything on the back of business cards and ALWAYS place the card into their right front pocket. Nothing else went into the right front pocket, only notes, orders, and appointments. At the end of the day he emptied his right front pocket and had the details he needed to fulfill any promises or place any orders he took.
Is the rep that uses his computer any more organized than the rep that uses business cards and his right front pocket? I don’t think so, to me they both have a system and they both use it successfully and that is what matters most.
My daughter and I had fun discussing organizational systems, she still insisted that her way was better and that my way would drive her nuts. I in turn said the same about her system. We agreed to disagree on our methods but we also agreed to agree on the need to have a system that works.
Lorin
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