Are We Correctly Allocating Our Time and Resources? By Dan Harkey

Planning the use of time and the relative importance of each daily activity has occurred for thousands of years. ?Organizing daily actions and choices, whether personal planning or technology-driven, allows us to accomplish more and empowers us to take control of our time and resources, instilling a profound sense of capability and empowerment.

A platform for change:

A written plan is not just a suggestion; it's a necessity. It should contain a daily list of activities, prioritizing their importance, and a schedule to accomplish each personal and professional goal. For instance, a loan agent who solicits prospective borrowers for financing—usually secured by real property—should have a preplanned written daily action plan and outbound call system with a weekly activity schedule. Following this plan can lead to a profound sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

The loan agent or other salesperson has multiple tasks:

·????? ???Identifying a qualified lead.

·????? ???Pursuing the possibility of getting an appointment.

·????? ???Making the presentation.

·????? ???Explain the benefits.

·????? ???Answering questions.

·????? ???Handling the objections.

·????? ???Asking for the order (closing)

·????? ???Closing the transaction.

·????? ???repeating 2 through 6 again.

Motivation to produce many closed loan transactions to satisfy customers, employers, and oneself is necessary to earn commissions and sustain a decent standard of living for one’s family.

I have some suggestions for creating an action plan.

·?????????????? Have I defined my universe of possibilities? That number is the total number of potential leads interested in my products, goods, or services at some point.

·?????????????? Have I included my relationships with their extensive networks of other professionals for possible referrals in my defined universe of possibilities? Leveraging these relationships can make you feel more connected and supported.

·?????????????? How many prospects can I manage to contact daily and weekly?

·?????????????? How frequently should I follow up with prospects? Is the answer 30, 60, 90, or more days?

·?????????????? Do I have a written script for verbal conversations and email marketing? ?(The language ‘script’ may be formal or informal based on your product, personality, and past relationship with the person).

·?????????????? Asking questions and allowing people to talk about themselves, their feelings, and their families go a long way toward establishing a lasting relationship. The answers also help build a history.

·?????????????? Do I have a formalized written marketing plan?

·?????????????? ?What action habits should be expected daily, weekly, and monthly? For instance, daily habits could include reviewing active leads, weekly habits could involve setting new goals, and monthly habits might focus on evaluating overall performance.

·?????????????? ?Do I start organizing my day each morning, reviewing my active l leads, and focusing on transactions nearest completion?

·?????????????? Am I prioritizing the follow-up of my daily active leads? These are the highest-quality leads that should be a priority in your daily actions, as they are more likely to result in successful transactions. Active leads are potential customers who have shown a genuine interest in your product or service and are more likely to convert into a sale. Identifying and focusing on these leads is essential to maximize your time and resources.

·?????????????? Will I practice great tenacity in daily follow-ups of active leads (this concept is critical)?

·?????????????? Am I “out there” with all I have, including energy, focus, and determined pursuit?? Are my efforts executed to my maximum abilities?

·?????????????? My responsibility is to assist the customers in making the best decisions for their financial needs.

·?????????????? Professionally, completing transactions is our responsibility.? Fiduciary duty is ever-present.

·?????????????? How many (real estate, loans, or other completed tasks) are my goals to be closed monthly?

·?????????????? A visioned and crystalized amount of gross revenue anticipated to gain for a specified period, such as a month or a quarter—could prove extremely helpful.

·?????????????? Am I working effectively with co-workers, superiors, subordinates, and independent contractor vendors with mutual respect, dignity, and understood objectives to close the transactions? Mutual respect in professional relationships is not just crucial; it's a cornerstone that fosters a positive work environment and encourages open communication, leading to more successful transactions.

·?????????????? Do I have the best office technology, phone technology, email marketing systems, customer relations management system (CRM), network marketing, and industry-specific software to do the most professional job?

·?????????????? Do the people around me, including support staff and other kindred folks, share my values about business, loyalty, relationships, and customer follow-up? Kindred values in a professional context include honesty, integrity, and a strong work ethic. Surrounding yourself with people who share these values fosters a positive work environment and encourages open communication, leading to more successful transactions.

·?????????????? Do I associate with other people with kindred values who also for success, self-motivation, and tenacity?

A suggested action-filled daily work schedule.

Start time: 9 am to 4:30 pm- Monday through Friday. ?Maximum performance may require additional hours, some evenings and weekends.? Prolonged physical and mental effort requires breaks for physical and psychological sustainability.? And one should take occasional breaks away from all the everyday stresses. ?Ten daily walks in the sunshine will work wonders for energy, focus, and stamina. ?Walk a dog and pick up his stuff or call a friend while “frolicking in the “forest.”

Many folks believe that input of effort and output of results will correspond.

The common assumption by many is to expect the same results from each hour of active work.? Suppose you are an hourly wage earner at a fast-food establishment.? That’s how it works- but technology has changed that. ?But that is not how success works in most profit-making enterprises.

Input and output rarely correspond. ??Input results may be leveraged with knowledge and proper technical tools so that output and production are geometrically greater. ??Identify those tools.

Wow, this worked; I bet I can do better. We cannot motivate individuals to achieve. They must develop and internalize the desire and motivation themselves. Sometimes, learning to improve becomes a passion through modification. Repeated successes always bring confidence.

Thousands of brilliant individuals could achieve more if they were both motivated and changed their use of time and daily action habits.

The success of one’s action plan varies depending on one’s circumstances and stated goals. The preacher, teacher, psychologist, company manager, supervisor, clerk, bookkeeper, accountant, prisoner in a confined environment, or salesperson relying on commissions have different success priorities. ?What is most valuable in a time segment for these folks will differ. Each person should construct a platform and assess each minute’s importance, time spent, and results received.

Historical references in explaining the concept of focusing on the essential items in time utilization: ?

Economists and philosophers have written about the concept known as the 80/20 rule for centuries.

Jean-Baptiste Say (1767-1832) was a French economist who first coined the word entrepreneur.

“The entrepreneur shifts economic resources out of the lower area and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield.”?

In 1896, Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist and sociologist, developed the concept of the 80/20 rule.

“In any series of elements to be controlled, a selected small fraction of the number of elements always accounts for a large fraction in terms of effect.” Thus, The Pareto Principle was born.

In 1949, George Zipf, a Philosophy professor at Harvard University, stated:

“The input of resources (people, goods, time, and skills) tends to arrange themselves so that a small portion of resources (20% to 30%) account for a larger corresponding output (70% to 80%) of results.”

In 1951, Joseph Moses Juran, a management consultant and significant contributor to the quality control revolution, wrote the “Quality Control Handbook.” He renamed the “Pareto Principle,”

?

??????? ???“Rule of the Vital Few” and the “Rule of the Trivial Many.”

In 1957, C. Northcote Parkinson wrote two books, “Parkinson’s Law” and “The Law and the Profits.”? His first law was:

“Work will expand to fill the time available for its completion.”

His message concerns the time wasted and the expansion of unnecessary bureaucracies in business organizations and governments. When people and institutions spend other people’s money, there is a natural incentive to be inefficient and expand the time or completion. Consuming assets rather than getting results is generally their motive.

“An official wants to multiply subordinates, not rivals.”? “Officials do work for each other.” “The number of employees will expand 5-7% per year, irrespective of any variation in the amount of work (if any) to be done.”

To sum up, most people need to allocate their daily activities better. Eighty percent of our activities produce only 20 percent of the intended results.?

·????? 20% of salespeople produce 80% of the income.?

·????? Conversely, 80% of salespeople make 20% of the available income.

Most companies and bureaucracies allocate 80% of the available resources to the least effective 20% of activities. ?Bureaucracies such as the government are not motivated by performance or results but by consuming assets, so next year’s budget is equal to or greater than this year’s. ?They strive for more funding and subordinates, no matter how trivial the jobs are. ?Make-work jobs, or otherwise, constantly grow.

·????? 20% of companies and 20% of salespeople control 80% of the market share.?

·????? Conversely, 80% of companies and 80% of salespeople hold 20% of the market share.?

·????? 80% of the profits in your organization will result from 20% of your customer base.

·????? 20% of the profits in your organization will result from 80% of your customer base.

Satisfaction and dissatisfaction are consistent with the 80% -20% rule.

·????? 80% of our satisfaction will come from 20% of our relationships, both in business and personal.

·????? 80% of our dissatisfaction will come from 20% of our relationships, both in business and personal.

Superficial relationships and unwanted opinions from people who do not matter:

Mutual respect and dignity are necessary ingredients for long-term relationships. ?That includes respecting the time value of others.

I love critical opinions from people who have no skin in the game and don’t care.? They believe that they are innately intelligent and informed!? In their minds, they must be because they watch mainstream news on the nightly as the source of all knowledge and wisdom for earthly beings.? Therefore, they are superior to those around them. ?“Follow the science” is a catch-all. Their opinions are always without forethought or consideration for anyone else’s views.? No other opinions matter: they are the messiahs, the “anointed ones” who possess it all.? Self-righteousness is their claim to moral superiority.

Acquaintances who do not share our positive attitude about life and our value system are usually negative pains in our neck (a s) and should become ex-friends.? The same goes for online (superficial friends) parasites we have never met but always express their unintelligent, emotional, and irrelevant opinions. ?These parasites tend to express their ideological views and attempt to sway others to their way of thinking, which is always a 100% waste of time.? Of course, their knowledge is science-based, spoon-fed information, according to the propaganda on mainstream media news, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, BBC, and FOX.? The same goes for obnoxious and opinionated co-workers and employees.? Does anyone care about their superficial opinions outside their self-subscribed microcosm?? Who cares?? Not Me! ?It is tiring to deal with stupid.

Conversations may be of interactive interest to the participants (like a friend kibitzing with another). ?Conversations and time may be about meeting company objectives, developing more business, improving systems, increasing cash flow, and driving forth stated goals.? Unallocated time should be saved for family, friends, and time off.

Eliminating cluttered relationships from your personal and business sphere will provide tranquility, dignity, and positive results.

Here is a suggested time/value schedule of daily activities with variable importance for each activity.

Leveraging your time will create more free time. You can eliminate, consolidate, or delegate a portion of your daily activities. You can leverage your time, talents, and skills through others, which may be associates, employees, or independent contractors.

A, B, C, D, and Time Off are subsets of the time management systems.

Time effectiveness may vary according to your motivation, regimen, objectives, tenacity, and use of strategic leverage. ?Leverage comes from delegating to others.

“A-Time” is the most valuable time spent.

The key is time spent with face-to-face or one-on-one communication with your targeted buyer or seller. ?The contact may be in person, by phone, or by email but must expressly reflect “a request” that the party or prospective buyer/seller work with you or buy your products, goods, or services. ?I suggest that average salespersons do not apply 10% of their workday in an “A Time” mode. ?They should spend more than 60% to 80% of their available time in an “A-Time” mode.

“B-Time” is the time spent preparing (preparation time) to move into “A Time.”

A phone call request, a letter request, or an email request is probably involved. ?“B Time may constitute 30% of one’s daily schedule. ?Push your time into A and delegate to another, B to 20%.

Examples:

·?????????????? Draft a letter, email, text, or phone call to request an appointment for a face-to-face meeting with the prospect. ?“A” time does not start until the client is in front of you or directly on the phone.

·?????????????? Once you consummate the transaction, all other follow-up activities to drive the process forward fall under “C Time.”

“C-Time” is an administrative activity with no specific defined result.

“C-Time” does have value in driving your business forward. It most likely consumes 50% to 80% of our workday. The key is to delegate “C-Time” to support staff—employees or independent contractors—to shift your resources to the most effective use of your time.

Examples:

·?????????????? Record keeping and regulatory compliance activities are C Time.

·?????????????? I am developing and maintaining marketing systems and materials, including database maintenance and web-based lead sources.

·?????????????? Office organization and administrative duties activities are C-Time.

·?????????????? Interactions with staff and co-workers.

·?????????????? Interface with third-party vendors such as escrow, title, appraisal, environmental engineers, and property-related insurance companies.

·?????????????? All general activities required to maintain your business enterprise but not directly attached to closing a transaction are “C-Time.”

·?????????????? Industry educational events.

“D-Time” is the catch-all term for activities that produce no results and have little value; in other words, it is wasted time.

These activities may consume a large portion of our day. ?“D” Time differs from time off or away from your business or money-making activities.

Examples:

·?????????????? Reading news and conversations with friends and family. ???(Some may argue that conversations with friends and family are not “wasted time.”)

·?????????????? Maintain social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter.

·?????????????? Casual conversations with employees and staff not related to business.

·?????????????? Industry meet and greets—cocktails with the boys or girls.

Summary of Tools available to get intended results for a self-starter:

·?????????????? Effective time utilization

Focus on the most essential elements at any given time that yield the most outstanding results every minute of each day. Self-starters understand that 20% of our activities generate 80% of their intended outcomes. Self-starters also understand that 20% of their customer base is responsible for 80% of their sales and, therefore, their income.

·?????????????? Leverage time through delegation

Certain activities maximize their value, while others are important but may be delegated to support staff or third-party independent vendors. Delegated job responsibilities may be integral to overall success but can be handled by knowledgeable and well-trained others. The Self-starter knows that each hour of delegated activities could double the productivity and value of their time.

·?????????????? Technology

The self-starter knows unlimited opportunities exist to use software packages to manage data, market, network, and process their jobs and daily activities.?

Self-starters know that technology leverages their effectiveness and multiplies their results many times.

·?????????????? Symmetrical vs. asymmetrical growth

Personal and business growth is not accomplished on a constant upward trajectory. We do not automatically get improved results by X amount per minute, hour, month, or year. Variables that affect results change constantly. For example, the real estate loan salesperson may need to catch up around holidays, whereas the retail stores do their best during the same time. Socioeconomic or political upheavals may cause businesses to go down dramatically, while news that the economy is doing excellent may accelerate new business activity.? Attitudes and actions may modify results.

Balance of symmetrical growth requires constant modification of activities, action habits, and growth patterns. A person's activities are different during high-production months than in low-production months. A Self-starter recognizes that the high volume of inbound calls with potential new business may be followed by stagnant periods, during which outbound solicitations are necessary to bridge the gap.

·?????????????? Exponential growth

Growth or success will increase in quantity over time at an accelerating rate. If the plan is executed efficiently, success will double or triple. Eighty percent of the results are completed in the last 20 percent of the allocated time. Focus, execution, constantly readjusting the plan, and tenacity are the keys.

Momentum is accomplished by sticking to a plan and modifying it when necessary. The opposite of exponential growth is exponential decay, where success shrinks with time if the plan is not executed.? Loyalties, referrals, momentum, and results quickly cease when the person ceases to execute their plan. Catching infectious diseases called “bad attitude,” “bad habits,” or “procrastination” can easily cause a downward trajectory in success.

All plans and the execution must constantly be evaluated and modified. Stagnation will cause a downward trajectory.

·?????????????? Organizational bureaucracy:

A bureaucracy is a work organization that refers to a body of personnel executing the organization's directives. The term bureaucracy means “rule by desks.” As staff members multiply, inefficiencies diminish intended results. Each staff member's agenda may be different from the organizational intention. The more each staff member deviates, the more inefficiency sets in. Inefficiencies drag on goals and profits.

If a job is directed to particular staff members due in two weeks, misuse of time, procrastination, spending time on trivial matters, and deligating to subordinate support staff may be counterproductive and a drag on profits. Many staff only care if they go through the motions and get paid. This is an example of process-driven rather than results-driven.

Many companies tolerate inefficiencies and hire more staff, which drags production and, therefore, bottom-line profits.? Governments actively encourage multiplying personnel no matter how inefficient they become.? Multiplying personnel and consuming public tax receipts become the primary goals rather than getting results. Entrenched bureaucracies can become cancer.

Time Off:

Time off is not “D Time,” but “Time off” is time away from work, work-related emotional pressure, and clutter.

Everyone needs to recharge their (mental, emotional, and physical) batteries. Avoid any semblance of work pressures, including turning off the phone and computer. Avoid burnout by scheduling focused blocks of time away from anything related to work. Hopefully, these will be full days, unencumbered, away from the business environment altogether. ?

Most people have developed a place to escape from their business life or activity that helps them transition from a frantic hustle-bustle into peacefulness, tranquility, serenity, and resolve.? A personal tune-up comes to mind.

The escapee can divorce from work and, no matter how temporary can figure out how to spend free time away from societal pressures.? And there are many. ?If you desire a copy of my article “Escape from the Jungle,” email me, and I will forward it.? I refer to this location as my “Mental Hobby Shop.”

Why do people misallocate their time and resources?

One prominent reason is the fear of rejection! ?Fear of rejection is the unconscious reason people move into the “safe space” or comfort zone of B-C-D time. ?When we request that someone work with you, they may say “No,” “Yes,” “Not now,” or “Maybe later.” They could also totally disregard you.

The most challenging learning curve in any salesperson’s career is understanding that “a prospective buyer is not rejecting you personally, but merely your request.”? The salesperson must locate someone who needs their products, goods, or services. ?Training on how to handle rejection then comes into question. ?That is for another article.

This time management system and becoming a self-starter are learned processes, not events, and their use should become a lifelong habit. However, everyone occasionally needs a tune-up or reminder.

Thank You

Dan Harkey

Educator and Private Money Finance Consultant

949 533 8315?? [email protected]

Visit www.danharkey.com

?

?

?