When I first entered the insurance industry, my agency manager held weekly telephone sessions at which agents were to make calls and schedule appointments for the coming week. Some agents enjoyed success at these sessions and scheduled a full week of appointments. Others left the sessions exhausted but with few or no appointments set. As a new agent, I wanted to know why these sessions worked for some agents and not for others. Ray challenged me to find out for myself … to look back at sessions where I personally enjoyed success and at those sessions where I was exhausted with no tangible results to show for all of my work. He also challenged me to keep track of how many times I dialed the phone (okay, the phones were push-button phones but we still referred to making the call as dialing), how many people I got to talk to, and how many appointments I set. Here is what I learned.
When I made a lot of calls (100 dials was the goal), I was energized at the end of the day. Typically, I had scheduled all of the appointments I needed. Those appointments were usually with highly qualified prospects; and, I could not wait for the week to begin. I was excited because I knew that it was going to be a great week!
When I spent most of my time shuffling papers, looking for the “hot lead” to call; searching for the “perfect prospect” to set an appointment with, I ended the day exhausted. I had very few appointments with qualified prospects. I viewed the coming week with trepidation; and, I “knew” it was going to be a horrible, unproductive week.
Great Leaders recognize that being busy alone does not make them productive nor does it make their team members productive and successful. It just makes them busy. The activity may or may not lead to successful outcomes. Great Leaders help their associates focus on those activities that lead to successful outcomes. By just changing the perspective from which activities are viewed, Great Leaders help their followers focus on those actions that drive the success of the team and the individuals who comprise the team.
Click the comment button and share how you have learned to focus on productive activities in order to make your “work time” an investment in your personal success.
Tom Hoisington is a speaker, trainer, and author whose goal is to provide leaders and potential leaders with tools that empower them to build teams that are creative and cost effective along with a clearer understanding of how personality types interact within those teams. He can be contacted at tom.hoisington@eagleoneresources.com