**** Emails and Phone Calls ****
Wait, WHAT?
It’s ok if you are thinking that right now; so many of my clients have totally balked at me when I tell them to “cut it out.”
Ok, now before you just throw this document into the recycle bin, I am NOT telling you to never do emails or phone calls. So stick with me for a moment.
On a daily basis, I interact with incredibly busy business people who drop everything to answer their phone and have alerts constantly pop up when they receive an email.
This needs to stop now.
Unless you are an ER doctor, OB/GYN, firefighter, or similar profession, lives are NOT in your hands.
It is an easy trap to fall into to take on other’s sense of urgency on as our own or to think if we don’t drop everything for our clients then we are not providing quality service and they will leave.
So I want you to pause your reading for just a minute and think about the situations you feel need immediate attention and with a critical eye ask yourself the following questions:
- What would happen if this was put off for an hour or till the next day?
- Would it create a problem that will be expensive to fix?
- Would it result in lost revenue?
- Would my client’s leave me?
- Would my employees quit?
Now it is natural to automatically say “Yes, the world will end, my clients will go somewhere else and I’ll lose ½ of my income.” Or “I’ve built my business around always answering the phone or answering emails within 30 minutes, so all my clients will get mad and leave.”
But take a breathe and let’s really examine this rationally.
YES, in the beginning, it will be an adjustment for you, your clients, your vendors, your team, etc.
But do not worry.
It’s not as hard as you imagine when approached the right way.
Letting people know that to increase your ability to provide the best service possible to your clients, you will check emails and return phone calls at X, Y and Z time during the day.
Limiting when you give time to emails and phone calls will reduce a lot of interruptions during your day and allow you more focused time to spend on the tasks that will move your business forward.
Would you like to read more about the pitfalls that are killing your productivity?
I created a free download of my Top 3 Productivity Pitfalls and how you avoid this trap: https://jennawaites.com/top-3-productivity-pitfalls/