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Posts Tagged ‘time management’

5 Tips For Making the Most From a Conference

Monday, March 21st, 2011

I taught a class last week to participants of the Veterans in Business Conference. I was giving them tips on how to prepare and get the most from an all-day conference. Here are some of the tips that resonated and might be useful for you when preparing for a conference or trade show.

1. Planning In Advance

I spent most of the class on this topic. Too many people pay money and spend a day (or days) at a conference and never plan their goals. No wonder they come back thinking it hadn’t been a good use of that time or money.

Before attending a conference, write down several specific goals. Do you want to meet a specific number of people? Perhaps a workshop will give you continuing education credits. Or maybe you are looking for ideas and best practices. Make sure you write them down and refer back to your goals periodically to ensure you are on track.

2. Business Cards

Bring lots. And I mean lots, like 50 for each each day of the conference. Then there’s no chance you’ll run out and look unprofessional.

3. Listen and Ask Questions

This is a common theme when I talk about networking, and it’s true here too. The more you listen when you talk to people, the more everyone will get from the interaction. Maybe you can help someone meet his conference goal. Or you can make some connections. Being a good listener will make you memorable and easier to follow up with in the future.

4. Introvert or Extrovert?

I got some laughs from this one, but it’s important. Introverts make better listeners, so you’ll do that piece well, but we introverts get tired easily in crowds, so we have to remember to schedule time to recharge alone.

Extroverts have plenty of energy and feed off being in a crowd. But you aren’t as good at listening, and you might flit from conversation to conversation, gathering cards but not starting any meaningful relationships. Remember to take a deep breath every so often and remind yourself to listen.

5. Follow Up

Of course you know you need to follow up, but do you schedule time to do it? I recommend you clear your calendar for the morning after the conference. Give yourself time to categorize business cards, prioritize follow up and then actually do it.

It will take longer than you think. At a minimum, I’d suggest blocking out two hours.

Anyone else have any good tips to add?

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Tags: Follow up, Networking, time management
Posted in Networking | 2 Comments »

Set Your Rate Right

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

I was working with a client a few days ago. He was frustrated with not having enough time to market, write proposals and respond to client questions.

I asked him how many hours a day he needed to bill to make his income goals. The answer was “six.” No wonder he was frustrated! Needing to bill six hours a day definitely left him with little time for anything else.

So we discussed his rate. Did he have room to raise it? And the answer was “yes.” In fact, I wasn’t the first person to suggest he was underselling himself.

Look at this from a time management point of view. He has room to raise his rates by at least a third. That actually lowers his required billable hours by 2 each day! Two more hours to market his business and do all the other tasks he’s been putting off. Raising his rates makes sense there.

But what about from a perception of value view? When he told me his rate, my first thought was, “he’s pretty cheap.” Want to bet some of clients thought the same thing? Being thought of as “cheap” can be a selling point, but I don’t recommend it.

I had another client, several years ago, who was seeing about 5-7 clients a week. I urged her to raise her rate from $75 an hour to (eventually) $125 an hour. She was terrified that she’d lose clients by being too expensive.

What really happened? Her clients increased. Over the year we worked together, she increased her clients to 12-15 per week. She received most of her leads from an online profile, and she made only one change to that profile. Her hourly rate. I’d like to say she also did great networking, but I’d be lying. Most of the change in her clientele was a result of raising her rate.

Perceived value is huge. If something costs a little less than we expected to pay, we see a bargain. If it’s lots less, we see it as shoddy. When my client raised her rate to what people expected to pay for someone in her profession, with her experience, they believed she was competent.

See how it works? Doing a pricing analysis of your business is important. Charging the right amount will bring you more clients. Billing the right amount will bring you more time.

Anyone else want to share a pricing story?

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Tags: sales, time management
Posted in General | 3 Comments »

Social Media Time Management

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

People frequently ask me, “How much time do you spend on social media?”

It’s a fair question, but I’m not the best person to ask. Social media is part of what I do for my business, so I spend more time on it than the average business owner.

That said, I spend two hours or more each day on social media. But before you have heart failure, remember that I’m a blogger. We spend more time than average because we have to write our posts, and we probably read more blogs than non-bloggers.

So how do I do it? And what can you learn from me to help you?

Simple. It’s all in the tools and time management.

I don’t keep up with social media in one or two long blocks of time. I spread it out over the day with short blocks of time that fit between meetings or larger tasks.

For example, in the morning, I check Twitter and catch up on blog posts. Mostly, I do that from my phone, sometimes before I’ve even gotten out of bed. Very luxurious, I tell you.

I do most of my Twitter and Facebook interaction from my phone because I can be anywhere. Waiting on a meeting, waiting on a phone call, as a short break to clear my mind. Sometimes, like today, while I’m eating lunch.

If you follow me on Twitter, you might think I’m on it all day. But I’m not. I use scheduling on Hootsuite for iPhone to space out my tweets. That means I can do a 20 minute session and have tweets and RTs going out for the next couple of hours.

Twitter recently added a new feature, which has been great. Whenever I receive a Twitter @Mention, I get a text to my phone. So I can reply to those as they happen instead of a couple of times a day.

See why I love my smart phone so much?

What about blogging? I write each post the day before. Then in the morning, I just need to do a quick edit and publish. Again, I use Hootsuite to schedule the tweets about my blog. 7:00 AM isn’t a big time for US Twitter people, so I’d rather have the tweet go out in the late morning. Scheduling makes that happen. It also means I’m never sitting in the morning, staring at a blank screen, thinking, “What to write about today?”

As for reading blogs, I use Google Reader mostly. All the blogs I’m subscribed to all in one place. If I have a few minutes, I go to my Google Reader page and see what’s new. I also use an iPhone app, Byline, to check blogs on my phone.

So it’s all about using good tools and finding those few minutes a day when you can dip in, read some stuff and then get back out and on with your next task or meeting.

Anyone else want to share how they time manage social media?

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Tags: iPhone, social media, task management, time management
Posted in Time and Task Management | 4 Comments »

Task Management Idea

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

Shame on me! I realized it’s been months since I posted on time or task management. Sounds like I need a better system, doesn’t it?

Well, as it happens, I am trying a slightly new task management system this year, and I thought I’d share.

I’m basically working three jobs this year: 1 to 1 Discovery, writing/publishing and volunteering for Homeward Deployed. It would be easy for me to spend my time disproportionately, and all of them are important. My coach challenged me to come up with a way to keep track of all them, and I can’t stand not responding to one of her challenges.

So I started this system last week, and so far it’s working well.

Each morning I spend a few minutes looking over my day. I’m still using Pocket Informant as my calendar and task management app. I see how much time I have devoted to meetings and how much time I have left over for other things.

Then I look at the tasks I (sometimes optimistically) have due that day. I prioritize them, and reschedule ones that don’t make the cut that day.

My final check is that I’m representing at least two of my “jobs” each day. If I can fit in all three of them, great, but some days that’s just not realistic.

Planning done, I go about my day, keeping track of which tasks I’ve accomplished.

At the end of the day, I’ve scheduled another few minutes. That’s when I go back and look at what I did. I created a template for an “All Day Event” where I can track what I did for my three areas of focus. I write down exactly what I did to advance the three big goals I’m working toward right now. Mostly, it’s just cutting and pasting completed Tasks, but it’s a way to hold myself accountable.

For you visual people, here’s what that daily event looks like.

As you can see, I did pretty well on the writing goal that day!

On Friday, I go back and look at each of those events and make certain each goal was advanced.

On Monday, I add another extra step. I look at all my Projects (ala Getting Things Done) and make sure I have a task assigned to each of them.

It doesn’t take much time. The daily planning and reflection takes less than 15 minutes. The recap and planning on Friday and Monday take about 30-45 minutes total. But spending those couple of hours each week is making me more productive by ensuring I’m working on exactly what needs to be done.

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Tags: GTD, iPhone, task management, time management
Posted in Time and Task Management | 6 Comments »

“I Didn’t Want To Waste My Time”

Friday, September 17th, 2010

I overheard a conversation a couple of days ago that reconfirmed my iPhone decision.

A couple of guys were talking about a networking event.

Guy 1: “Did you go to that event last night?”

Guy 2: “No, the meeting I had beforehand was canceled. I didn’t want to hang around a coffee house and waste an hour and a half, so I went home.”

So sad to miss a networking event because he didn’t have a way to productively spend time. With my iPhone, I could have done any or all of the following in an hour and a half:

1. Checked Twitter and Facebook
2. Written a blog post
3. Edited The Case of the Haunted Vampire
4. Written 500-1000 words in my current story
6. Checked and answered email
7. Caught up on other people’s blog posts
8. Read a book

And failing all that I could have

Played Plants vs. Zombies!

Okay, I wouldn’t really shoot zombies on work time, but you get the idea.

Having productive work with me all the time is part of how I can juggle the many projects I’m working on. If someone’s late for a meeting or cancels last minute, it’s never a problem. With a glass of iced tea and my trusty phone, I can be productive anywhere and anytime. (Um, don’t take that to mean I am encouraging people to cancel last-minute. Wanted to be clear on that.)

How about you? How do you stay productive on the go?

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Tags: iPhone, networking on the go, time management
Posted in networking on the go | Comments Off

Social Media Roles: Be a Brand Monitor

Monday, August 16th, 2010

Last week I wrote about creating a buzz through social media. Today I want to talk about the other side of creating a buzz, monitoring your brand through social media.

Someone’s probably already told you that there is a conversation going on about your brand. You can ignore the conversation and hope it goes well, or you can listen and join in. It’s your choice, but obviously I believe that joining the conversation is the better option.

Where should you monitor? It depends on the size of your brand. If you are a national/international brand, you need specialized tools to gather all the mentions of your brand in one place. I’m test-driving Trakur right now. It’s one tool, and there are certainly others.

If you are smaller, look at where your audience tends to hang out and go there.

I still recommend accounts on most of the major social media platforms because you’ll want to be able to respond when people talk about you. Remember to respond to both the good and the bad. We like to get feedback when we compliment as much as we like to hear from you when we criticize.

How will you spend your time? Listening, mostly. As you listen, analyze and look for patterns. Does one demographic talk about you the most? Is it good or bad? You might want to plan a campaign to address them specifically.

As you listen and analyze, interact with your audience. The more accessible you are, the more you’ll hear, and that’s good, even if you hear the bad stuff. If you are accessible, the bad stuff won’t be as bad. When people feel they are being heard, they are much softer in their criticism and more likely to thank you for addressing concerns.

How do you get business from this role? That’s easy. If you have the reputation of responding promptly, people will naturally come to you. Remember that we like to do business with companies we know, like and trust. A good monitoring program will feed all three of those.

That’s the end of this series. I hope it’s made you think of your role in social media and how you can make it work for you more effectively.

I’ll add to it when I run across new roles. Things are changing so rapidly that I’m sure it won’t be long before I see some new ones emerging.

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Tags: communication, Relationship building, social media, time management
Posted in social media | 1 Comment »

Social Media Roles: Be a Buzz Creator

Friday, August 13th, 2010

Most of the roles I’ve written about this week are appropriate for authors, coaches, consultants and professional service people. But what if you have a retail or restaurant business? Or maybe you are a larger company with a product launch? You’ll want a different role, that of buzz creator.

Your goal will be to get people talking about your product or your place of business. What are the best social media channels for you?

If you are a retail business or a restaurant, you’ll want to look at channels like Twitter or Foursquare. Twitter is where people go to keep up with the latest buzz, and Foursquare is where people go as they travel around. A good Foursquare special will bring in impulse business. It worked for American Eagle a couple of weeks ago when I checked in nearby, saw the special and stopped by to buy jeans for my son.

Foursquare check-ins can be posted on Twitter, which is why you need a presence in both places.

Planning a product launch? Twitter is ideal. Create a hashtag for your product and get people tweeting about it. Hold a Twitter chat. Create a contest for people using the hashtag. There are lots of ways you can get people talking about you and your new product.

What does your time look like? You want to start the buzz by letting people know you’re there, but mostly you’ll want to let other people do the talking while you chime in to keep the conversation moving.

Want to see a good example? Check out Lounge 201, a club/lounge in Washington, DC. (Yes, they were one of my clients.) If you look at their mentions, there are a variety of people talking about them and promoting events at their location. Then look at their stream. Yes, they talk about their specials. But most of their stream is engagement with their followers: light banter, thank yous and the like. That’s a good Twitter stream. They have attracted some new regulars because of their Twitter presence.

How does this bring your company business? The answer should be obvious. If people are talking about you, they are going to remember and buy your stuff. Social media can lead to impulse purchase like my American Eagle example. And if you engage with your customers, they are going to remember you, like you and talk about you with their friends.

The Millennial Generation is very active in social media. They look to it for recommendations. They use it to ask their friends what’s hot and what’s not. If you aren’t there, encouraging and participating in the buzz, you’re not going to be hot.

By the way, a colleague of mine wrote an excellent post on engagement in social media. Read it for some more perspective and ideas on social media engagement.

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Tags: communication, social media, time management
Posted in social media | 1 Comment »

Social Media Roles: Networker

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

The last two days, I wrote about roles that would be good for fairly small business owners and sales people in particular professions. Today, I’m heading in a slightly different direction.

What if your goal in social media is to meet cool people and build relationships with them? Don’t laugh. I have a client who told me that was his goal, so we’re working toward that.

Traditional networking can be done effectively through social media. Choosing the right channels can extend your reach more easily than can face to face networking, and social media can be used to maintain relationships begun face to face.

Who would fall into this role? Job seekers are the most obvious. Owners of multi-level marketing businesses could also use this role effectively.

What are the best channels for the social media networker? Facebook and LinkedIn are the best, though Twitter could also be considered.

LinkedIn is the foundation channel for this role. Using LinkedIn, you can get a detailed view of someone’s contacts. Are you targeting a particular person? Use the Search function to see if you are connected in any way. Targeting an industry? Search again. Once you have found your target(s), request an introduction.

The Friend Finder and Search features of Facebook can do something similar, but they aren’t as powerful as LinkedIn’s.

Once you’ve found someone and been introduced, I’d suggest moving to another social media channel for building and maintaining the relationship. Twitter can be good for this because there’s no awkwardness about “friending” on Facebook. A new contact might not want that level of engagement but mutual following on Twitter allows for communication and staying in touch. If the relationship grows, moving to Facebook makes sense.

What about time management? Depending on the size of your network, the time commitment can be manageable. You’ll want to join a few targeted LinkedIn groups, keeps tabs on Facebook updates and monitor your Twitter stream with some regularity. A tool like Nutshell Mail, which sends updates from multiple channels to you via email might be all you’d need. As your network grows, upgrading to a tool like TweetDeck might be prudent.

Your “content” will mostly be conversation and perhaps promoting links. You’ll also want to post updates about what you are doing, keeping them professional and pertinent. If you need help, especially with finding a job, ask for it. You’d be surprised how often requests for help finding a job get forwarded.

If you are a multi-level marketer, how do you get business out of this? Remember that we refer people we know, like and trust. Your social media activities will lead (I hope!) to all three of those. Sprinkle occasional mentions of your ideal clients in your stream, and if you’ve done it right, you’ll get referrals.

Sound like you? Great. Now, you have a place to start.

Are you a business looking to build and maintain a brand? The next two days are for you.

I’d love some feedback on this series. I’ve not seen anyone in the social media sphere writing about roles quite this way. Is it working for you?

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Tags: Networking, Relationship building, social media, time management
Posted in social media | 1 Comment »

Social Media Roles: Be a Content Filter

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

Yesterday I wrote about Content Creators, and how they can effectively use social media to build a following for their ideas. But what about those of you who can’t or don’t want to create content on a schedule? Are you out of luck for being known as a go-to person in your field?

Nope. You have another approach. You can be a Content Filter. And we need you!

If you are active in your field or industry, you are probably already spending time reading articles and commentary. Why not use that time to build your reputation? Disseminate the good stuff and occasionally comment on why the bad stuff is bad, and we’ll keep coming back to you. For myself, I’m interested in a lot of different fields, but I don’t have time to read everything. I value the people in my network who read all the crap and direct my attention to just the good stuff.

Who will be comfortable in this role? Anyone in the real estate, financial or health and nutrition fields are naturals. There is a lot of information being disseminated in those areas. Some of it good. Some not so much. If you are willing to filter and comment on what is being presented, you’ll be valuable.

How do you use social media to disseminate information? The good news is that you have lots of choices. You can use any of the major channels: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or YouTube. How?

Facebook: Set up a Business page and use that as the repository of all the links to good content. You can write your own commentary on both good and bad articles, and you’re not limited to just 140 characters.

Twitter: Obviously tweeting links can work. If you want to build relationships with the major players in your industry, that’s easier here than on Facebook. Lots of business Facebook pages are maintained by a PR company, and it can be difficult to interact directly. But many Twitter accounts are maintained by the people, and some of them will respond back to your @Mention.

LinkedIn: Join a Group, participate in Discussions and post links in your status updates. It’s not quite as easy to use LinkedIn for this purpose, but if your industry in more active on LinkedIn than the other channels, then definitely use it.

YouTube: If the content you are filtering is primarily video then YouTube is the natural. You can create a profile and use your “Favorites” as a repository for the content you want to promote.

How do you manage your time? Obviously, the majority of your time will be spent reading and/or watching content. But you should already be doing that, so it’s not a new demand on your time. Other than the time spent reading, you’ll be selecting the content to share and sharing it. You’ll want to leave time to engage in discussions around what you’re sharing. Over time, you’ll want to build and maintain relationships with the major players in your field. And they should want to know you. If you are promoting them, it’s in their interests to be on your good side.

How does this give you business? Go back to who I said were naturals for this role. All of them are in professions requiring a high degree of trust. This role will build that trust and, over time, lead to customers and referrals. After all, if you are the one we’re going to for trusted information, why wouldn’t we go to you when we need your services?

Sound like you? Excellent. You have a place to start. But maybe you’re not all about the content. Perhaps your focus in on relationships. Not a problem. The “Networker” is the role for tomorrow.

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Tags: Referrals, Relationship building, social media, time management
Posted in social media | 1 Comment »

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