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  • 4Ps & 6Ps – Marketing Mix

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    Marketing mix is one of the major concepts of marketing. According to the traditional base, there are 4Ps of marketing. These are referred to as the marketing mix. But in the modern use of the term, many more Ps have been coined. People have found six, seven even eleven Ps of marketing. In this article we will talk about the 4Ps and 6Ps.

    Four Ps

    The four Ps of marketing mix consist of Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Product means the thing that you are selling. It can also be a service like the tourism industry.

    Price means the rate at which the product is being sold. A number of factors are involved in determining the price of a product. These include competition, market share, product identity, material costs and the value customers perceive of a product. In fact prices are also determined by competitor’s products. If the competitors have the same product, then the price of a product will go down.

    Place refers to the real or virtual place from where a product can be bought by a consumer. Another name used for place is called “distribution channel”. Promotion is the way that a product will be communicated to the general public. There are four distinct ways in which this might be done- ‘point of sale’, ‘word of mouth’, public relations and advertising.

    Somewhere down the line people felt that four Ps were not enough for marketing mix. It had to face a lot of criticism mainly on the grounds that it was extremely product focused. This was not enough for the economy which is based a lot on services as well nowadays.

    Another criticism that marketing mix has to face is that it does not have a ‘purpose’. So it should be looked upon as a tool that sets marketing strategy. Another criticism of marketing mix is that it does not discuss customers. This is why the concept of Six Ps of Marketing mix has achieved relevance.

    Six Ps

    The six Ps contain all the four Ps of marketing – product, price, place and promotion. In addition, it contains, two new Ps, namely People and Performance.

    People include the potential and current customers of the business and how they make their purchase decisions. Market segmentation is also a part of this. It contains the features of market segmentation and the most attractive segments of this market.

    The next P is Performance. This implies the performance of the business. The financial and strategic objectives of the business are dealt with here. It is also seen whether these objectives are achievable and realistic or not. The metrics of financial performance are also seen and appropriated in this division.

    The six Ps of marketing mix help to overcome the criticisms of the four Ps. Hence the 6Ps serve to be a better alternative as compared to the 4Ps of marketing mix.

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    Source by Pepik Smith

    Views: 0

  • A Review of the Nvaleo Multi Level Marketing Company

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    A Whois Search revealed that Nvaleo originally registered their company domain name in June 2009, so as of the time of this writing they are another new MLM Company on the block. The word Nvaleo is derived from the word En Valeo, which is the latin derivative and means and action or person of great strength that is right in front of you that has tremendows strength, power and influence. These dynamics ultimately lead to a higher quality of life and success.

    The heart of their system is the En Valeo HD Box. It is a very small, state of the art content delivery device. It fits right in the palm of your hand. There is supposedly no limit to the type of content that can be propagated and made live with this device. One example would be live, streaming events from anywhere in the world. You can access movies and Pay Per View Videos, connect to websites and use Internet TV channels. You can also access your personal media like your photos, videos and music.

    The company goes on to say that the En Valeo HD Box was designed to deliver Live Nvaleo Events. It also delivers exclusive On-Demand Training from some of the greatest marketing minds in the world. These highly trained professionals include Consultants, Instructors, Performers and Teachers that specialize in Personal & Business Development, Wealth Creation and Entertainment. This company provides you with high quality videos that are easily access through a never ending library.

    What this box can really do is deliver this media to your standard HDTV by way of the internet, and is what makes this product unique. So if you have an HDTV, a high speed internet connection and the En Valeo HD Box you can be in business with this company and be constantly privy to all the information they have to share. This is self-improvement type education delivered in a new way. The company calls this “lean back learning”.

    The Nvaleo Enrichment System also offers a wide variety of organizational tools in their online business and personal management system. This web based, custom desktop contains a day planner, contact manager and financial planner and even a real estate management system that you can use to track all your real estate transactions from start to finish.

    On the business opportunity side, they allow you to earn extra income by becoming a Distributor like all companies we review. The initial $98.00 enrollment fee gets you into the company where you can start building your sales team. One Pro Pack sale will earn you more than twice your original enrollment fee.

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    Source by Brian Garvin

    Views: 0

  • The Importance of Proper Sales Techniques

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    The success of any business can be directly related to the quality of its staff and the ability to meet any consumer demand. When your business struggles in this regard it helps to identify the areas of inconsistency which can result in the loss of consumers due to employee negligence. To avoid this unfortunate turn of events with your own company, it is necessary to identify the many factors influencing the importance of pursuing proper sales techniques.

    Factor I: Building Consumer Relationships

    One of the greatest mistakes amateur sales associates make is focusing on the drive to make a single sale form a single individual. This short sighted strategy may help in improving sales numbers in the short run but will provide no value with developing future success. The first factor influencing the importance of sales management skills is found with building consumer relationships overtime. Whether you run a store or an online website, pursuing a relationship with your client will help to secure greater sales as well as develop the best form of marketing, positive word of mouth.

    Factor II: Enhancing Selling Ability

    If you were to provide any employee with the opportunity to work with a consumer eager to invest in a product you will develop a high level of sales success. The true skill or value of an associate is to have the ability to work with consumers who may not have this interest yet still make a purchase after working with your employee. The selling skills of an employee staff often represents the financial success the company has displaying this factor of importance with enhancing selling ability.

    Factor III: Problem Solving

    When a customer discovers a problem with a good or service it is often easy to lose their business to a competitor in a short period of time. If a customer contacts your company with a problem it creates the possibility of salvaging your relationship by resolving the problem and enhancing consumer satisfaction. When your sales staff can utilize the sales management skills of problem solving it will boost your business success, marking the importance of this factor in relation to proper selling techniques.

    Factor IV: Revenue Development

    The final factor of importance identifying the need for proper selling skills is seen with the value of revenue development. Every business relies on the resources of revenue development so the elements of building consumer relationships, enhancing selling ability and efficient problem solving will all help in keeping consumers and meeting this high demand factor.

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    Source by Peter McKeon

    Views: 0

  • The Writer As A Marketer

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    Should aspiring or professional writers see themselves as marketers? This is a personal question that you alone should answer, not me.

    I am sure you can mention a thousand and one reason people aspire to write. It could be for pleasure, fame, money, education, inform or entertain or whatever.

    So, while one writer may not be interested in making money, but educating the readers, another may want to make all the money on earth. No general rule here.

    I have said it over and over again; a good writer is a wordsmith. It is good to read anything and everything under the sun.

    But, the journey to becoming a good writer comes with practice, practice and more practice. I have said this in my earlier articles.

    Let us look at the writer as a marketer. The business side of writing, if you wish to call it so. Just like me, I am sure you too need extra income. Please, don’t laugh, only smile.

    Yes, you sell yourself, your script, your books, your articles to the entire world as a writer.

    In this modern age, people and nations are looking out for where individuals and nations are searching for specific information, solution, ideas, values, etc.

    So, writers must strive to fill the gap, provide solutions, add values and solve problems using the writing words for their target market or audience.

    I do not know about others, But, I do know as a writer, a journalist that making money comes with real hard work.

    I have abandoned my family for the computers and the internet, researching, reading, browsing and having sleepless nights these days.

    Truth is that my wife and daughter understand. Do they? God knows they do. Ho ho ho ho oh.

    But, am I making money? Good question, but I will answer it, ha ha ha ha ha. Seriously though, writers must begin to look at the business sides of writing, if they have not already done so. I am guilty of this.

    Write, tell the entire world and sell your product over time. Yes there could instance hit where you will make millions in local or foreign currencies selling your books, script, articles, novels, whatever.

    There is no fast rule about this. For some writers, it could take hours, days, weeks, months and years to make a breakthrough.

    The social media is a credible platform for both amateur and professional writers to tell the world about their products, themselves, their passions, knowledge and skills.

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    Source by Emmanuel Udom

    Views: 0

  • How to Find the Best and Real Affiliate Programs on the Internet

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    Affiliate marketplaces are a really good place to kick off your affiliate career, and find products to promote. They act as coordinators of the affiliate web between merchants and affiliate agents, as well as responsible for payment processing from the customer to the agent. There are two ways to find a product or an affiliate program, first one is by either contacting the merchant directly, browsing websites or seeing what other affiliates in your niche are promoting, second one is signing up in an affiliate marketplace. Both are kind of unsettling decisions to make, specially questions of trust.

    The fears surrounding affiliate programs you have as a new affiliate in the big wide affiliate world are really rational fears, specially considering all the bad experiences newbies have. It is a necessary thing to do know certain basics on the market and how it runs before you embark out of sheer excitement on marketing activities. We are, in the article, attempting to answer a fundamental question of what are the things you must be aware of before joining or signing up for an affiliate business.

    These are three things to look for in an affiliate program: (We are using Clickbank as an example, an affiliate marketplace that is considered by most affiliates to be the best and most reliable).

    1-Commission: Low commission is not worthy of your time and effort, even as a beginner affiliate, this depends on the price and quality of the products you are promoting. To know whether the commission is low or high, let’s take commission in Click bank as an example, the minimum commission is 60%, knowing that most products’ prices range between $30-$70, it means a minimum of $18 per sale guaranteed in the platform. There are few exceptions of course when the prices are higher than $70, which is only positive.

    2-High Gravity Rating: This basically means that the product in question is selling well, so you as well will get a good sum of money out of selling it. The gravity rate is determined and based on sales made by other affiliates. Never take on an affiliate program with low gravity, unless you check the sells page in case of new products.

    3- Reputation of Product and Marketplace: This is a crucial thing, a profound research is needed before you sign up for anything. It can make your experience so traumatizing or put you off affiliate marketing for a while to sell untested and unreliable or harmful products, moreover, if the platform where you work will not pay you at the end of the day.

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    Source by Raymond R Johnsen

    Views: 0

  • Top Network Marketing Company – Why Are the Products So Expensive?

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    I’m sure you’ve heard this question before, Why are top network marketing company’s products so expensive?

    This is one of those ever-present questions that networkers and direct sales people will continue to encounter (probably) forever–and there’s always more to it than meets a simple answer.

    One key is not to side-step it. There are good and genuine reasons for legitimate, premium-priced products–and of course there are over-priced ones as well. Honesty is best, as always, and I’ll endeavor to give you the general truth with my answer to the question.

    Special Products at Special Prices

    First, the products available through top network marketing companies sales and distribution model are mostly what are called “specialty” items. They are higher priced products to begin with, having more costly ingredients and more complex designs or formulas; they are simply more expensive to make and package. Some well-known non-network marketed examples are Clinique makeup and fragrance products, Apple computers, iPods and iPhones, Armani clothing, Mercedes and Lexus automobiles.

    Unless you’re dealing with a scheme or a scam, these premium products outperform their cheaper, off-the-shelf counterparts, giving consumers more and better benefits. Since they have greater value, they cost more.

    If these products are being outsourced by the networking company (produced by a “third-party” vendor/supplier), they tend to be manufactured in smaller production runs that do not allow for all the optimal low-cost advantages of buying and making in the high volumes mass-marketers enjoy. The manufacturing processes are more complex and exclusive. The profit margins are higher. This results in a higher quality product with more attention to detail and quality control.

    The reason manufacturers and marketing companies select network marketing and direct sales is because these higher-priced products are of higher quality, and they therefore require special methods of distribution and sales.

    Simply put, they cannot compete with the lower-priced, lower quality “commodity” products, which are sold based mainly on discounted mass-market pricing and brand awareness alone. Think Wal-Mart and Costco.

    Specialty products are “education-intensive.” They need greater explanation; for example, what formula, ingredients and/or processes makes the product more expensive than those mass-market goods available through direct response marketing (such as the Internet and mail-order) or retail chain store sales. Many require demonstration.

    Mass-market products depend on advertising, promotion and merchandising at “point-of-purchase,” all of which are required to get consumers’ attention, let them know the product exists (to create “trial” especially if it’s “brand” new), and to give them enough compelling reasons to purchase and keep on purchasing.

    Going head-to-head with nationally advertised products, many to most of which are heavily discounted and sold at the lowest price possible, is a tough game for just about all smaller businesses to win. Imagine trying to sell vitamins or nutritional beverages or “prestige” cosmetics against a major manufacturer selling through Wal-Mart, or a natural toothpaste against a tube of Crest® through Kroger or Publix supermarkets.

    Specialty products are perfect for the person-to-person, information-rich education, demonstration and service oriented methods of network marketing.

    And that’s where the important second aspect of network marketing’s “higher price” comes in: the added value which you as a “distributor” add to the specialty products you sell.

    Added Value Added

    Network marketing and direct sales representatives add significant value to the product they sell and they are well paid when they do so successfully.

    We reach consumers with the awareness of new products and services that ads and merchandising–no matter how persuasive or promiscuous–would not be able to reach out and touch. And by virtue of our one-on-one, personal relationship with these buyers, we appeal to them with a level of trust and service no mass-market, retail product advertiser could hope to compete with.

    The extraordinary level of service Network Marketers provide is not available when buying through mail order or retail outlets. It is a real and tangible benefit, part of the product’s value–and its price.

    For example: Someone tries a network marketing anti-aging health product. It’s personally presented for them–either in person or via mail–with a host of educational material about the product: scientific studies, article reprints, even books or tapes explaining how the product was made, how to use it, its unique features and its benefits.

    Within one to two days, the network marketer again contacts the person to follow up, asking how they are doing, checking to see that their customer is following use directions properly, make recommendations, etceteras. These service calls continue daily, bi-weekly or weekly until the customer is satisfied and happy.

    The network marketer will also continue to send informative and educational material such as updates from scientific literature. He or she will also let the customer know about other products the company offers that this particular customer with his or her unique needs and wants might also enjoy.

    This is an extraordinary level of service that is a real and tangible benefit for the consumer. This kind of personal and knowledgeable attention is not available when buying through the Internet alone, or mail-order or most all retail outlets. It is one of the things network marketers are paid for and it is part of the product’s value–and its price.

    Are there cases where the above education and service are not offered? Of course.

    Are there products that do not have special ingredients or qualities that support a higher price? Sure.

    And are there times when a network marketed product is simply more expensive to pay for the multiple-level commission structure? Yes.

    Back in the early 1950s, a dog grooming service was opened in New York City to serve people living in the exclusive Park Avenue, 70th and 80th Streets area. They charged $25 to shampoo and clip a dog. They had no customers. Then they jacked-up their prices to $250 per visit–and were an instant success. The Cadillac Seville, when first introduced in test-market showrooms priced at under $10,000, bombed; at $14,000 the very same automobile became an instant best-seller.

    Value is a perception. The relationship between quality, benefit and price, i.e., value, is in the mind of the consumer-beholder. Businesses price goods and services according to what the market will bear. Successful marketers come up with just the right mix of value-benefit-price.

    The majority of network marketing direct sales products are of the genuine higher-quality variety, not available in stores, special in ingredients, design and making.

    Most offer the convenience of in-home or on-line ordering and to-the-door delivery. They are also special in terms of…

    Marketing and Customer Service

    The network marketing “sales person” adds value to the product through his or her education, service and sales to the customer.

    All of this has its price. And according to consumer trends and the explosive growth of network marketing direct sales companies and their products worldwide, more and more people every day think it’s worth it.

    What’s the truth about the price of products offered through network marketing? Are they too high? And if so, why?

    The full answer to this one is complicated. If you need a short one, mine is:

    High? Usually, yes.

    Too high? Sometimes… yes, but generally no.

    So, if they are high, why? Let’s start with looking at what kind of products we’re really talking about here.

    The Truth is, Specialty Products Cost More

    Network marketing is predominantly a “specialty products” business: The products we sell most often tend not to be the type you’d find in supermarkets, drug stores or any other mass merchandiser. They are not the kind that combines the lowest possible price for the least acceptable level of quality. For a conventional retail parallel, look at the products in a natural or health food store, beauty salon, boutique or upscale department store.

    Specialty products cost more to make. The ingredients are unique and high quality and production is low quantity–the amounts manufactured usually are not great enough to take advantage of the economies of scale enjoyed by big-time, high-volume, mass-market producers. So these products more expensive–both to make and to buy.

    Also, specialty product makers usually cannot depend on major advertising to increase sales: they don’t have that kind of money. So they have to use more expensive forms of distribution, such as small, individual retail outlets whose profit margins are higher than mass-market stores and chains.

    Profit Margins and Markups

    Here’s an example: a discount chain drug store might be able to markup a bottle of vitamins that normally sells for $3.00 wholesale for less than the normal 33 percent retail profit margin. And, because they buy in large volumes, they’ll get the product for less than $3.00 to begin with.

    A natural or health food store might buy that same product at the full $3.00 wholesale price, and use a markup of 50 percent to get their full 33.3 percent retail profit margin.

    To the consumer, buying at retail, here’s the difference: $3.99 at the drug store and $4.50 at the health food store.

    And then there’s “what the traffic will bear.”

    There are sexy boxes of imported chocolate that go for $38.00 each, and poly-bags of 50 mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cups you can get for less than $3.80. If your taste tends towards expensive, you’ll generally pay more–in “margin” percentages to middle-people and in total dollars.

    Let’s look at a comparison of one single product offered through the conventional manufacturer-to-retailer distribution system and the exact same product sold through network marketing.

    $$$ From Conventional Manufacturer to Consumer

    We know specialty products cost more to make; again, the ingredients are unique and high quality, and the production is low quantity, so they are simply more expensive.

    Manufacturers speak of “Cost of Goods” (CoG): that’s the figure that a product costs the company to make, including overhead, ingredients, packaging and labeling, sales commissions (such as broker’s fees), etc.

    The very minimum a manufacturer needs to sell that product for is double, or a 50 percent margin. Considering that most competitive businesses operate on a six percent pre-tax profit, that leaves them 44 percent to pay for everything else. So, the $2.00 CoG product they make, they sell for $4.00.

    Now, some manufacturers sell direct to retailers–not many, but a few do, and when they do, they’ll take a higher profit margin to pay for the Cost of Sales (CoS).

    However, most manufacturing companies deal through distributors, who charge for warehousing, shipping and selling the products to retail stores. Normal wholesale is a 25 percent markup, which you get by multiplying the purchase price–plus freight if not included–by 1.33. So, our $4.00 item would be sold by a wholesale-distributor to the retailer for $5.32. (Again, plus or not freight costs which can run 10 to 15 percent additional.)

    To achieve a 33.3 percent profit margin, the retailer has a 50 percent mark-up–or higher. Our $5.32 product ends up on the shelf at $7.98.

    Now, this is the minimum scenario–not what normally happens except in the more strongly competitive markets. It’s not the least bit unusual to find the manufacturer selling that $2.00 CoG product for $5.00 or $6.00… the distributor working on 35 percent instead of 25 percent… and a retailer – especially from a specialty market segment–look for a 50 percent profit (i.e., a 100 percent markup), instead of “only” one third.

    And if all of that were true, the retail price of the product through that sales and distribution system would be more like $14.95.

    $$$ In Network Marketing Direct Sales

    Let’s work this one backwards (because that’s how most of the numbers are figured for your commissions).

    If the networking company’s product sells to consumers for $15.00 it will have an average retail commission to the networker of from 20 percent to 40 percent. So, using a 30 percent retail commission, the company’s “wholesale” price to the mlm distributor will be about $10.50.

    Let’s say that your company pays out a full 50 percent in “downline” or organizational commissions. That means that the company’s lowest from-the-warehouse price for the product would be half of wholesale, or $5.25.

    That’s right in the ballpark for specialty manufacturing, distribution and sales.

    It’s a Question of Value

    There is also a greater value, beyond the “specialty products” issues of ingredient quality, cost of manufacture and so forth and that’s the education, information and service delivered by the person-to-person distribution network.

    Learning the product’s proper use, additional uses, history, all about the ingredients, etceteras, is all part of its value. And products offered through word-of-mouth network marketing have more of this “added value” than any others.

    This last point begs the question:

    “Are products purchased through network marketing higher priced to make up for the compensation or commission payments to distributors and their networks?”

    Can they be? Yes.

    Are they… usually? No and Yes.

    In an authentic, intelligent, sincere and sensible network marketing direct sales company, one that’s well-managed and directed… a company that understands that the financial health and well-being of the men and women in the field MUST lead their mission, decisions, strategy, policies and procedures… no.

    But that new ostentatious corporate headquarters in the prestige location… corporate jet… an army of “distributor service” personnel… rock concert “conventions”… $50,000 “big name” keynote speakers… resort vacations and incentive cruses to exotic locations paid for by the company… luxury car allowances… are all expenses that need to be paid for. Where does that money come from?

    Directly (in terms of potential commissions that will not be paid out to people) or indirectly (in over-priced products and/or inflated charges for marketing materials, self-replicating websites, business building tools and trainings), the money comes from only one place… the men and women in the field.

    “So… do network marketed products cost more?” Sometimes yes and other times no.

    Can they be more expensive than similar items of equal value offered in a conventional market such as a retail store? Yes, they can.

    In fact, you can find numerous examples of both conventionally retailed products and networking products of similar sizes, shapes and qualities at prices that vary by as much as 30 to 40 percent or more.

    The only sure rule in product pricing the world over is, “What the traffic will bear…” No matter what distribution and sales route the product travels. It’s not so much a game of “Let the Buyer Beware,” as it is and always will be…

    “Let the Buyer Be Aware.”

    Factor in the at-home shopping convenience… the customer service… the satisfaction guarantee… personal attention… education and information–and in today’s increasingly competitive global marketplace, the “aggressive pricing” posture being taken by more and more networking companies around the world–along with the generally superior quality of the products available through network marketing and direct sales…

    … and I believe a growing number quality-conscious consumers will agree with me, top network marketing company’s products represent outstanding value.

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    Source by John Milton Fogg

    Views: 0

  • How Do You Metabolize Your Emotions

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    Emotions are not something that you wear like makeup or clothing. Emotions are not something that you acquire like a rash or a physical injury. Emotions are not something that are part of you like your skin. Emotions are like food. You cannot move through your handful of days without eating from the human emotional banquet each and every day. This is an “All You Can Eat” sort of Cosmic buffet. It caters to one and all be they rich, poor, educated or illiterate, male or female. This emotional buffet cares not whether you are a Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or Jew.

    Many people forget that emotions, like nutritional food, are necessary for our very existence and well being, and like food, move through our system and hopefully become digested and metabolized. Too often though, we tend to hold on to our emotions for their metaphorical/symbolic significance. We often adopt our emotions like abandoned pets. We want to OWN them. Emotions MUST BE METABOLIZED and allowed to move through our entire system of consciousness. A person will often choose certain drugs like coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, chocolate as well as the more dramatic drugs, as a way of stimulating a specific emotional (or the memory of that emotion) response. These emotional memories are often selected as one would select an entree at a grand buffet. Often people will even come together and couple-up in an attempt to stimulate certain specific emotions within themselves as well as within the other.

    We are not our emotions. Our emotions are but a lingering trail of experiential sensation. Our emotions are like a foggy breath on a cold morning or like the trail of after images left by a flashlight as you attempt to write your name in the dark night sky. Emotion is not the object, it is not the event. When we experience something we have a “feeling-emotion” about it, there is a slight time delay there, where we can assign a level of magnitude to the emotion (remember the emotion is NOT the experience). But once we assign a value and magnitude to the emotion which trails after the experience, we own it. Then the experience will move on but we will be left with the emotion (and the memory of that emotion). It will have become the event. Often we become wrapped up in these trailing emotions like tangled balls of yarn, rope, or chain. Often we cannot even find an end. “When did this start?”, “How did I come to be so wrapped up in this emotion?”, “Where did I pick up this feeling about??” “How did I come to feel this way?” And a very popular one, “When will it end!” At the same time we are lamenting the presence of one emotion we are often creating others. We own them as if they were real estate! They are not real. But often we become collectors.

    Now how can we reduce our addiction to emotion, because that’s what it is, addiction. Drugs are merely metaphors for preferred emotional states. Most habitual behavior is a searching for an emotional memory. So how can we reduce our incessant quest for emotional memories. Quite simple. Sit down, get quiet and simply “watch” your mind. Simply observe it. Don’t argue, cajole or threaten. Just sit there and be quiet. It is an art of increasing the spaces, removing the old thought/image/emotions and not replacing them with…anything.

    Some call it meditation. Usually when meditating I notice long trains of thought and image. The other day I was sitting with myself, being empty, but actually watching the train of thought going by, when I noticed that, like a real train, there were small spaces between the thoughts. It was as if I was parked at a railway crossing waiting for a long train to pass. I could see the spaces between the cars. At first I was fascinated with the rolling stock. What were the logos on the sides of the cars, how were they different from one another, where were they going, where had they been? Gradually I began to move my attention into the spaces between the individual thoughts, between the cars and then suddenly-I was in the clear, on the other side.

    The lesson here is to go for the space and forget the content. Emotion is a process and not a product. Release the emotion, increase the space and embrace The Light.

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    Source by Jann Burner

    Views: 0

  • Better Customer Service Through Effective Time Management

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    Being able to manage and prioritize is an important skill when servicing customers. Planning events, activities, and tasks on a yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily basis-that is, prioritizing time-can be rewarding from the standpoint of allowing you to be more proactive in preparing to deal with situations. Such planning can reduce your need to be a crisis manager. It is important on and off the job because, if you do not manage your personal life well, you may carry over personal stress into the workplace. This is not only inefficient; it is also unfair to your employer, peers, coworkers, and external customers.

    After you have scheduled key events and tasks using some type of scheduling system (e.g., time management software, written planning system or calendar, or electronic scheduling device that can download information into your computer), review the information regularly to avoid forgetting something.

    One way to manage events, rather than having them manage you, is to create a list of activities each day and assign a value to each based on importance. The key is to be consistent and prioritize each day. Some people make planning the last activity of their workday. When they arrive to work the next morning, they are ready to begin rather than spending time preparing.

    Guidelines for Setting Priorities

    Three guidelines can help you in determining what tasks to do first. These can help you create a realistic and achievable list of daily tasks. As you learned when you read about goal setting in other chapters, goals must be attainable. Use the following standards as a guide when setting priorities.

    Judgment. You are the best judge of what you can accomplish in any given day. You know your strengths and what has to be done. When selecting priorities, remember that the ones having the most impact on customers and others should be placed high on your list. On the other hand, do not put so many priorities on a daily list that you will not get them done. If this happens, you might become discouraged and give up.

    When you find that you have more high priorities than you have time, you may need to ask for help or guidance from your boss. Many times, simply asking for assistance helps develop your relationship with others. They feel respected and trusted by your gesture, as long as you do not abuse their help or appear to be unloading your tasks onto them. Also, consider other resources that you might use to accomplish tasks (e.g., technology, outside vendors, or customers).

    Relativity. Assigning priorities is a matter of relativity. Some tasks and projects are readily rated higher than others. You should be guided by the question “What is the best use of my time?” Many people fill their daily schedule with frivolous or easy tasks and with tasks that they like to do. This produces a hollow feeling of accomplishment. They may get a lot done throughout the day and enjoy doing it, but they have not added a lot of value to customer service or aided in accomplishing organizational goals. Keep in mind when setting priorities in the workplace that your primary focus should be your customers and activities that support them.

    Timing. Reality and deadlines have a way of dictating priorities. The starting time of a project or task also may establish priorities. Once you begin a task, there must be enough time to finish it. If this is not possible, you may have to re prioritize or seek assistance.

    Be realistic about the time it will take to complete a task. Make sure that you schedule that much time, plus a little extra, on your daily planning sheet. Also, consider your peak time period for performance. Each person typically has a period of the day in which he or she has more energy and can get more done. Capitalize on your peak period and schedule high-priority tasks during that time, if possible.

    Prioritizing System

    To set up your own priority system, list all of your pending activities and then group them according to their level of importance. How you assign value to a task is not as important as long as you use the same format each day. Many people use an A, B, C system, and others use a 1, 2, 3 format. Here are suggested criteria for assignment:

    Priority A-Must do or critical items. Some things must be done because of management directives, local, state, or federal regulations, importance to customers or clients, deadlines, or opportunities they provide for your success or advancement (e.g., state tax reports, actions requested by a customer, or application for a position in the organization with a specific cutoff date for submission).

    Priority B-Should do. Items in this category are of medium value. Although they may contribute to customer satisfaction and improved performance, they are not essential or do not have critical deadlines (e.g., mailing an unsolicited information kit to a customer about a new product or developing a proposal for changing an existing system or process).

    Priority C-Nice to do. This is the lowest category and includes tasks that are not a direct link to customer satisfaction. They may even be fun or interesting, but could be omitted or left undone. Postponing or scheduling such priorities until a slower time period will likely have little or no impact on customer service (e.g., meeting with team members to brainstorm ideas for a more efficient layout of cubicles, cleaning old e-mail files, or neatly lining up the products on a shelf).

    Note: As you go through your e-mail and voice mail messages at the times you have scheduled throughout the day, prioritize them, and add them to your list of things to do.

    The key to effective time management is to have a plan and work that plan. If you control your time, you and your customers both stand to gain from your efforts.

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    Source by Bob Lucas

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