When deciding to begin this 30-Day series I took some time to plan out each day, prior to writing my first entry. While it has been beneficial, structured scheduling is NOT the most effective approach. One of the biggest benefits of social media is the interaction of authors and readers. Yesterday I had lunch with friend/potential customer and she asked me a question…so I have chosen to forgo my scheduled article to address her question.
As we were discussing sales training/personal development, she shared with me that her biggest struggle was finding a way to categorize and implement the things she was learning in these programs. I know she is not alone and that many of us will come home from a conference or workshop with so much information that it is hard to even process through it. I am also a big reader and I have had struggles when processing information that I have read.
So…what can we do to organize this information in a way that makes it easier for us to implement it into our business?
Next time you pick up a book or head to a conference, I encourage you to rip out two pieces of paper and give them the following titles…
Page 1 – Easy To Do!
This page is where we write down key tips, tricks, and strategies that would be “EASY TO DO”. The items listed on this page are the things we hear and think…”I can easily implement that into my business when I get back”. When we isolate a list of action items that we believe would be simple to do and would add value to our business, it makes it much easier to sort through and take action on immediately.
(ex. Develop a personal follow-up system to reach out to customers post-purchase.)
Page 2 – Big Impact!
The items on this list may take more time/resources to develop but they are still things that we believe would add a great deal of value to our business. When writing these items down we must be able to envision 3 months, 6 months, a year, or even 5 years down the line.
(ex. Identify at least one new vertical market, each month, over the next year!)
***OPTIONAL*** Page 3 – Quotes
I have always been a big fan of quotes. They are short, sweet, and deliver a powerful message. I normally carry around a page to record quotes from books/conferences/workshops. This is more of a personal preference of mine and if you do not find value in quotes, no need to waste the paper or time in recording them.
Additional Notes
You may be thinking to yourself, “Well, they give us books/packets to take notes in. Why can’t we just write it down in those books?” The reason I have started this, and what I have noticed from many others, is that we come home from a conference and the first thing we do is we place that book/packet on our bookshelf and we never touch it again. I use those books to record notes on but my “Two Pieces of Paper” are what I work from when I get home. If for some reason there is a great diagram or something more lengthy in the packet that I don’t want to write out on my two sheets of paper, I will just refer to that page in my notes (ex. see sales diagram on page 13 of conference packet).
I hope this is beneficial and will help each of you gain more from your next book or meeting. Again, thank you to Christin Baker for the question and if you have ever have any questions, I would be more than happy to address them here on my “Young Guns Blog”.
Jason Jacobus
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