How would you describe “Getting Things Done” to an audience of people who, it must be assumed, know nothing about the subject?
I’m doing a presentation this week to just such a group. I have no more than 45 minutes, so obviously, this will be an introduction. I hope to explain the basic ideas and get them interested in learning more. I’m going to use my blog post, “The Ten Commandments of Getting Things Done,” as the basis for my talk.
But where do I start? How do I quickly get their attention and show them why they should listen?
I was thinking about this as I was looking at my first slide, which has the title of David Allen’s book. It occurred to me that this is where I should begin.
The book’s title, “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity,” does a great job of describing the subject, as well as the benefits. It tells you what the book is about and what’s in it for the reader. So in my opening, that’s what I’ll talk about.
It will go something like this. . .
“Have you ever been frustrated because you’re not getting things done? The days fly by and you realize how much you haven’t done that day or that week, and before you know it, it’s the new year and you realize that you haven’t made a dent in the goals you set last year. It is frustrating, isn’t it?
Then, someone tells you about this great system for getting your whole life organized and you try it, but it’s so complicated, you spend all your time organizing your stuff and even less time getting things done. Or maybe you learn the system and it works for you, but then you find that while you’re getting things done, you’re not getting the right things done.
‘Getting Things Done’ is a book that promises to change all that. It’s about ‘Productivity’–which means getting the RIGHT things done, the most important things done, in a way that’s ‘stress-free’. If you use the system in this book, you’ll start each day knowing what you need to do that day and you won’t worry about forgetting anything important. Take a deep breath and imagine what your life will be like when you have everything under control.
This evening, I’m going to show you some of the basic ideas behind this system. . .
I’ve explained the subject of the book and shown them the benefits. I think they’ll pay attention, don’t you?
The most important part of any presentation is the opening. That’s when you sell the audience (reader, judge, jury) on listening to what you are about to tell them. When you get the opening words right, the battle is half won. When you don’t, well, you better be loud or you better be funny because that audience is thinking about what they have to do that day and not listening to you.
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Poor follow-up: another symptom of underearning attorneys
Yesterday’s post was about the price you pay for under-valuing and under-pricing your services. It is one of the 12 “Symptoms of underearning” on the Underearners Antonymous web site.
Today’s post is about another symptom of underearning common to attorneys. It’s number 11 on the list, “Not Following Up”. This includes failing to follow up on “opportunities, leads, or jobs” or beginning many projects and tasks and not completing them.
“Not following up” may be caused by psychological issues (i.e., low self-esteem, fear of failure), but it’s often just a matter of poor organization.
There was a period in my career when I had a large number of people I needed to follow up with every day. These were prospective clients I had spoken to but who weren’t ready to sign up. I needed to follow-up with them in 30 to 90 days. If they still weren’t ready, I would schedule another follow-up.
Every day, I spoke to prospects at various stages of readiness. Some I’d spoken to once, others I’d spoken to several times. Every day, new prospects were added to the list and before long, I started to fall behind. Out of necessity, I developed a system for tracking follow-ups. It allowed me to efficiently manage hundreds of prospects who were in my “funnel” at any given time.
You may not call prospects like I was doing, but the concepts behind this system may help you stay on top of other follow-ups you need to do.
The first thing I did was make a prospect tracking form. It was a single page with space for their contact information, notes of our discussions, and a place to record the next follow-up date. Everything I needed was in one place. (I do everything electronically today, but the principles are the same.)
Next, I developed a set of rules for when follow-ups would take place. As I recall, I had criteria for two week follow-ups, 30 days, 60 days, and 90 days, depending on their level of interest and stated reasons for not going forward.
The key to making this work was to decide when to follow-up, and record it, before moving onto the next prospect. There were four choices for follow-up and all I had to do was choose one. Prior to this, I would put the day’s tracking forms in a pile and go through them at the end of the day, deciding when to follow up. This wasted time and was unnecessary. With my new rule, I looked at the page just once and not again until the follow-up date arrived.
What did I do with the tracking form? I filed it in a manual “Tickler” file, a metal file box with hanging folders. I used a variation of the system described at 43 folders–twelve monthly folders and 31 daily folders. As I scheduled follow-ups, I filed them in the appropriate folder (well, on the closest weekday).
Every day, I would empty that day’s folder and move the empty folder to the back of the group. At the end of the month, I would do the same thing with that month’s folder. This way, “today’s” folder was always in the front of the box.
Every day, I knew exactly who to call. When I was done with those calls, if they still weren’t ready to sign up, I put the prospect form back in the tickler box at the appropriate future date.
Why not use the calendar? Because the calendar should be reserved for tasks that are due on a given day, like an appointment. If you want to follow up with someone in 30 days, this is approximate. If you don’t call them on that day, they won’t know it. So if you aren’t able to do some of your follow-up calls on a given day, you can move them to the following day.
There were times when I scheduled a follow-up for a specific day and I did put those on the calendar. If the prospect and I had a phone appointment (which I encouraged), the date and time were scheduled on my calendar. If the time was not specified but I was asked to call on a certain date, I would calendar it for that day but not at a specific time.
This system made me a champion at follow-up. I signed up many new clients that I am sure would have otherwise fallen through the cracks.
You may be wondering how many times I followed-up with a prospect. Well, some of my prospects didn’t sign up until I had followed-up six or seven times. Some, after ten or more. So, I my rule for how many follow-ups: Follow-up until they “buy or die”.
It kept things simple. And profitable.
Want to earn more even if you’re NOT good at follow-up? Download The Attorney Marketing Formula and find out how.