Do you end your work day with a sense of accomplishment? Or do you hit the end of the day behind a desk stacked with unfinished tasks, so tired that you barely drag yourself away? In today’s fast paced work environment, making the most of our work day and available time is essential. Does your business scramble every time new projects come in? Or do you have the right tools and processes to make your business the well oiled machine that you strive for? Start making more efficient use of your employees time and help them be more productive. Based on our experience, we’ve compiled 7 tips to make your employees and business more productive.
1 CRM
Every business, big or small, can benefit from a CRM. A CRM allows you to track all customer activities, communications, projects, quotes, invoices, etc. all in one place. The CRM essentially manages the lifecycle of your customers as they progress from a sales lead to a paying customer. It’s the central hub for all things related to your customers.
When was the last time someone in your company met personally with customer ABC? Without a CRM, answering this with certainty may be a daunting task. You might need to search through multiple Outlook calendars and email inboxes. Or, you could just check your CRM.
Want to know how you acquired customer ABC? Without a CRM, you likely have to go by memory, check a spreadsheet, query co-workers and search emails. Or, you could just check your CRM.
2 Multiple Monitors
Doubling the amount of computer workspace allows you to keep more windows in the forefront and limit time spent minimizing, maximizing and finding windows. Email on one monitor, active work on the second monitor. Here at Diligex, most Techs utilize 3 monitors (some 4). Monitor 1 – Communications. Monitor 2 – CRM and Calendar. Monitor 3 – Active Work. If you’ve already made the jump to dual monitors, you likely can’t imagine going back to a single. It’s a game changer.
3 Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s)
Don’t reinvent the wheel every time you perform a process that will need to occur again in the future. Repeatable processes should be documented the first time you perform the process and refined each time thereafter. This ensures consistency and ongoing improvement. An easy example of an SOP is how to onboard a new customer. How do you convert them from a sales prospect to a paying customer? What is the process to support the customer? How are your business reviews conducted? How and when do you renew a contract? Document all of it. It takes time upfront, but the productivity savings down the road are immense.
4 Consolidate to a Single Calendar
Many of us try to compartmentalize our time by using multiple calendars (personal, kids/family, work, Google, Outlook, etc..). If you step back and think about it though, there are 24 hours in a day – using multiple calendars gives you the false impression that you have more time available than you may actually have. How many times have you missed a meeting or call because you added it to the wrong calendar? The decision process on which calendar to place and look for an appointment takes energy. Try using a single calendar and introduce categories or colors to compartmentalize your schedule. If you don’t want co-workers with shared access to your calendar to see personal event, then mark them as private.
5 Plan your Day and Stick to it
End your day by planning for the next. Hopefully, you keep a task or to do list. If so, make your to-do’s actionable by moving them to your calendar and blocking out the appropriate time for each. Spend 5-10 minutes at the beginning of each day to reorganize, re-prioritize and schedule your tasks. It’s inevitable that issues will arise throughout the day that need your attention. So, plan for the unknowns by leaving yourself some cushion between appointments, or schedule a morning and afternoon block of time to deal with ad-hoc issues that come up throughout the day.
6 Turn off Notifications – Reduce Noise
Do you really need a ding and screen pop to tell you that an email just came in? The average number of emails sent and received by business users is 140 per day (for me personally, that number is more like 300). Let’s assume that half of them are received. 70 emails / 8 hour work day = 8.75 emails per hour. You already KNOW that there are messages waiting to be read. The notification only pulls attention away from what you’re trying to focus on. Silence notifications = less distraction. Check your email between your scheduled tasks.
As for mobile notifications, I recommend turning them off entirely accept for actual phone calls and text messages from your important contacts.
7 Don’t use email for intra-company messaging
Email is a 30+ year old technology that hasn’t really changed or progressed. It is widely adopted and therefore is a great tool for connecting with family, friends and people outside of your company. However, it’s not ideal for inter-company communications. More and more businesses are realizing the benefits of messaging and collaboration platforms such as Slack, Microsoft Teams and Google Hangouts Chat. These tools allow your team to have active (or inactive) conversations outside of email. They silo each conversation within its own channel or room. If someone needs your immediate attention, they can direct message you. If you’re involved in a project, you can catch up and contribute to the project’s channel when you have the time.
Here at Diligex, we made the jump from email to Sqwiggle (and now Slack) years ago and find it to be a much more natural medium for conversation versus email. I can come back from lunch and catch up in Slack within 2 minutes versus 10+ minutes if I had to do so via email. Slack provides context by telling me when I’ve been messaged or mentioned. Email on the other hand, treats everything the same and requires me to read every message that I’m cc:ed on, regardless of the context or whether it requires action from me. Time spent outside of an email inbox is more productive time.
Don’t get me wrong, Email still has its place – the medium is slower paced and more deliberate. This allows for time to craft a more thought out message when needed.
If you have any questions on specifics of the above tips or how to implement them, please feel free to reach out. We’re happy to help.