When was the last time you sat down to review your social media efforts? If you’re like most - your answer is probably “never” or “a very long time ago.” Checking in on your social media campaign is important, especially if you are not seeing positive results. It may be time to change things up. Here is a quick post from Forge3 on cleaning up your social media with a 10-step assessment.

Click here to read the post.

About the Author, Michelle Landis

Michelle is a certified Master Business Coach and owner of ActionCOACH of Greater Lehigh Valley/Berks. She is an educator and a business professional with over 25 years experience in the business world running both small and medium sized businesses. She has an extensive background in education, executive management, sales & marketing, operations and entrepreneurial pursuits that include international consulting in China, extensive teaching and educational endeavors as well as executive leadership roles with General Electric, Dun & Bradstreet and Armstrong World Industries. Her leadership skills have delivered over $58 million to the bottom line. Get a BUSINESS HEALTH CHECK with Michelle or connect with Michelle onFACEBOOK, join her on LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter.

Join master business coach Michelle Landis, as she strives to create success and abundance for every business owner with the ActionCOACH method of focus, accountability, and results. Visit our weekly Q & A session as Coach Michelle tackles real questions on a variety of issues - and provides you with answers that will BRING RESULTS for your company!

Question of the Week: “What is perceived indifference and what does it mean for my bottom line?”

Coach Michelle: I will start with one very important question: Do you really care for your customers enough? The hard statistics say that nearly 68 percent of all customers who decide to go elsewhere, do so because they feel as if they do not have your full and earnest attention. They don’t leave because of a “bad” experience, but simply because you just don’t seem to care if they actually come back.

This is a phenomenon known as perceived indifference, and it’s an undeniable business truth. The sobering reality is - you will likely not even get the chance to win that customer back. They just silently slip away from your bottom line. They don’t say a word, they don’t complain, they simply disappear. How can you combat this silent enemy?

Business Magic: Turn a Headache Into a Dollar Sign

A savvy business owner will keep this fact in mind at all times: the complaining customer can actually be your BIGGEST asset. Don’t forget to ingrain this concept into each and every employee as well! 2 out of 3 unhappy customers will just quietly walk away, so take every opportunity to learn from the one who voices an issue. Chances are, you can right the wrong, AND convert that unhappy client into a raving fan who will tell others about your exemplary customer service.

So what is that special formula for turning a complaint around, creating a positive and memorable experience that shows you truly do care?

1. React. Immediately let the customer know that you wish to know more about the issue. Be sure to listen to every detail, both patiently and empathetically.
2. Respond. After thanking your customer for notifying you of the issue, specifically ask them what they think would be a fair solution if you don’t have one readily at hand.
3. Recover. Solve the problem quickly and effectively. Even at a cost to you. Think of it as a marketing expense - this satisfied customer is going to spread the word about how you handled the situation to other potential clients.
4. Add Insurance. Sometimes thinking quickly on your feet, or having a special bonus in place for sticky situations can turn a negative reaction into a positive one very quickly.

For example: “Mrs. Jones, I’m sorry your order isn’t quite ready yet. We’d love to send you a complimentary dessert to express our thanks for your patience. Would you prefer coconut cream pie or chocolate mousse?”

Proactive Customer Service

Righting a wrong should not be the only customer service practice topping your to-do list. You need to think long and hard about WOW-ing your clients every time they walk through the door or browse your website. Think about how you answer the phone, and how you greet clients as they come through your business door. Think about remembering names, keeping information databases, and how you personally follow up each visit with an email or a special thank you. Proactive customer service is an excellent way to fight off any feeling of perceived indifference, before it steals your customer.

What can you do RIGHT NOW to create a remarkable experience with each “normal” customer interaction?

About the Author, Michelle Landis

Michelle is a certified Master Business Coach and owner of ActionCOACH of Greater Lehigh Valley/Berks. She is an educator and a business professional with over 25 years experience in the business world running both small and medium sized businesses. She has an extensive background in education, executive management, sales & marketing, operations and entrepreneurial pursuits that include international consulting in China, extensive teaching and educational endeavors as well as executive leadership roles with General Electric, Dun & Bradstreet and Armstrong World Industries. Her leadership skills have delivered over $58 million to the bottom line. Get a BUSINESS HEALTH CHECK with Michelle or connect with Michelle on FACEBOOK, join her on LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter.

Join master business coach Michelle Landis, as she strives to create success and abundance for every business owner with the ActionCOACH method of focus, accountability, and results. Visit our weekly Q & A session as Coach Michelle tackles real questions on a variety of issues - and provides you with answers that will BRING RESULTS for your company!

Question of the Week: “I see you use the term ‘raving fan’ often in your weekly coaching articles. What is a raving fan?”

Coach Michelle: If you haven’t heard the term “raving fan” before, pull up a chair and make yourself comfortable. The ability to create customers who love your product or service, and are willing to spread the word about you to everyone they know, is the quintessential ace in the hole for any small business’s success. It applies to any product or service, whether you are point and click or brick and mortar. Raving fans are what you need, but there are certain steps to cultivating your premium crop.

Step 1. Attitude.

As a business owner or manager, the entire process begins with your own outlook. If you are a positive person, who is responsible for his or her actions, your employees will be too. Remember that everything you do and say has a trickle-down effect. You are the main force in your company’s culture.

Step 2. Perfect Client.

The ability to identify your sweet spot customer, or perfect client, is essential for building solid raving fans. You must be able to search clearly within your target market and recognize the clients who are most suited to your business. Do you know exactly what their wants and needs are?

Step 3. Unique Selling Proposition.

What makes you unique must be made crystal clear, and then shouted from the rooftops for all to hear. What is it that your competitors cannot offer? What specific problems are you going to solve for your clients in a manner that is fabulous, in a way that no one else can? Having a USP is the only way to carve out that special, money-generating niche for your business.

Step 4. Manage Expectations.

Do you know exactly what your clients expect from you? What is it that they truly need? You can arrive at this knowledge through customer surveys, interviews, and focus groups to really understand what your customers want, and where they place the most value.

Step 5. Love Your Customers.

Do you know how to make your customers feel loved? It may sound “corny,” but building relationships with your clients is the number one way to earn their trust and loyalty. How do you make them feel personally wanted and respected? Extra touches are so important.

Step 6. VIP Membership.

Every customer wants to feel like they are special, and like they belong. Utilizing VIP clubs or exclusive memberships is an excellent way to foster a sense of inclusion and preferential treatment. Build in “upgrades” to purchases, or add extra little services. It will get fans truly raving about you.

Step 7. Superior Service.

The quality and consistency of your service cannot be undervalued. Even a bad experience can be turned around with superior service. The power of fluidly consistent and courteous service is key.

Step 8. Touch Points.

Once you have made a sale, or converted a fan, your work is still not done! Touch points are a process of building a relationship by instituting continuing ways of personal contact once that first sale is made. This can be in the form of sending emails, newsletters, thank you notes, or VIP invitations.

If you make a conscious effort to institute these 8 critical steps into your business processes and philosophy, you are surely going to build a raving fan base that will spread the news about your products and services. It’s a simple, but often overlooked concept. Love your customers, and they will love you back.

About the Author, Michelle Landis

Michelle is a certified Master Business Coach and owner of ActionCOACH of Greater Lehigh Valley/Berks. She is an educator and a business professional with over 25 years experience in the business world running both small and medium sized businesses. She has an extensive background in education, executive management, sales & marketing, operations and entrepreneurial pursuits that include international consulting in China, extensive teaching and educational endeavors as well as executive leadership roles with General Electric, Dun & Bradstreet and Armstrong World Industries. Her leadership skills have delivered over $58 million to the bottom line. Get a BUSINESS HEALTH CHECK with Michelle or connect with Michelle onFACEBOOK, join her on LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter.

Join master business coach Michelle Landis, as she strives to create success and abundance for every business owner with the ActionCOACH method of focus, accountability, and results. Visit our weekly Q & A session as Coach Michelle tackles real questions on a variety of issues - and provides you with answers that will BRING RESULTS for your company!

Question of the Week: “As a small business owner, I feel like I need to please everybody. That’s the basis of good business, right?”

Coach Michelle: The old mantra that the customer is always right is something that is often engrained in our minds from our earliest working days. But is it truly the case? Does pleasing everyone who walks through your door make you a business success? Does it really make sense?

Not necessarily! Unfortunately, it’s just not that simple or economically sound to please everybody. The key to your success lies in first knowing exactly who your ideal - or dream - client is.

• You need to learn their characteristics, demographics, and how to identify them.
• You need to learn what they expect from you, what their needs are, and how to meet those expectations and needs with aplomb and appeal.
• You need to learn to manage their expectations, and direct them in a way that makes your product or service seem like the one thing in the world they just can’t do without.

What’s Your Unique Selling Proposition?

Are you on the cutting edge of your industry? What can you provide your client that nobody else can? What is distinctly different about your product or service that places you above the neighboring competition? This is known as your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). It is the life-blood of your business success. Know it, live it, breathe it, and most importantly, brand it.

Who is Your Dream Client?

Many small business owners don’t take target market analysis seriously enough. It is not suffice to have a vague idea of your ideal customer. You need to dig into demographics. People buy goods or services to for one of two reasons. They are looking to solve a particular “problem” or they are looking for a service that makes them feel good. So what is it that your sweet spot customer is looking for from you?

How Do You Manage Expectations?

The world we live in today is not static. Trends can change on a monthly or weekly basis, and what was good enough last year may not be good enough now. It is critical for an owner or executive to understand how customer expectations change over time. Utilize surveys, interviews, and focus groups to really understand what your customers want and what they value - then stop to think about what they are getting (or not getting) from your business. The only way to do this effectively is to incorporate these methods as a business process on a periodic basis. If you want to retain perfect clients, you need to maintain a perfect product or service, and that can only be done by keeping the product fresh and your service top of the line.

Bonus Tip

If a customer is not working with you or your philosophy, there may come a point when you need to move on. Do not waste valuable resources trying over and over to please someone whose needs will never be met. My own practice is to tell such a client that you may not be the right “fit” for them, then recommend to them one or two resources that may work better. That kind of policy will lend you a stellar reputation for honesty and trustworthiness- even with customers who may NOT be raving fans. Dream clients are not a fantasy, they are carefully selected and cultivated, and they grow and spread to others with care from you. That is the essence of business success.

About the Author, Michelle Landis

Michelle is a certified Master Business Coach and owner of ActionCOACH of Greater Lehigh Valley/Berks. She is an educator and a business professional with over 25 years experience in the business world running both small and medium sized businesses. She has an extensive background in education, executive management, sales & marketing, operations and entrepreneurial pursuits that include international consulting in China, extensive teaching and educational endeavors as well as executive leadership roles with General Electric, Dun & Bradstreet and Armstrong World Industries. Her leadership skills have delivered over $58 million to the bottom line. Get a BUSINESS HEALTH CHECK with Michelle or connect with Michelle onFACEBOOK, join her on LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter.

Mobile techhnology is a hot topic right now. Why? Because that’s how people access information. If you’re looking for something, chances are you will look it up on your smartphone ot tablet before you power up your desktop. It’s just easier. But, with the popularity of mobile on the rise, it leaves a lot of businesses wondering if they should be investing in a mobile app. After all, doesn’t everyone have one these days? The answer may actually surprise you. Here is a quick post from Jeff Teschke of Forge3 addressing the mobile app dilemma. By the way, Jeff will be our presenter at GrowthCLUB this month.

Click here to read Jeff’s Post.

About the Author, Michelle Landis

Michelle is a certified Master Business Coach and owner of ActionCOACH of Greater Lehigh Valley/Berks. She is an educator and a business professional with over 25 years experience in the business world running both small and medium sized businesses. She has an extensive background in education, executive management, sales & marketing, operations and entrepreneurial pursuits that include international consulting in China, extensive teaching and educational endeavors as well as executive leadership roles with General Electric, Dun & Bradstreet and Armstrong World Industries. Her leadership skills have delivered over $58 million to the bottom line. Get a BUSINESS HEALTH CHECK with Michelle or connect with Michelle onFACEBOOK, join her on LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter.

Social media has been and still is that buzz word that we can’t seem to escape. We constantly hear about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and so many other platforms that seem to be popping up on a daily basis. The trouble is, most of us are not really sure where to start. Do we just create a Facebook business page and call it a day? Do we get on Twitter and try to decipher the meaning behind the 140 character posts? The answer is actually more simple than you think. Here is a quick post from Jeff Teschke of Forge3 on why you should “Start With Your Message, Not Social Media.”

Click here to read Jeff’s Post.

About the Author, Michelle Landis

Michelle is a certified Master Business Coach and owner of ActionCOACH of Greater Lehigh Valley/Berks. She is an educator and a business professional with over 25 years experience in the business world running both small and medium sized businesses. She has an extensive background in education, executive management, sales & marketing, operations and entrepreneurial pursuits that include international consulting in China, extensive teaching and educational endeavors as well as executive leadership roles with General Electric, Dun & Bradstreet and Armstrong World Industries. Her leadership skills have delivered over $58 million to the bottom line. Get a BUSINESS HEALTH CHECK with Michelle or connect with Michelle onFACEBOOK, join her on LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter.

Join master business coach Michelle Landis, as she strives to create success and abundance for every business owner with the ActionCOACH method of focus, accountability, and results. Visit our weekly Q & A session as Coach Michelle tackles real questions on a variety of issues - and provides you with answers that will BRING RESULTS for your company!

Question of the Week: “I have a business plan I update annually - why do I also need to go through 90-day planning?”

Coach Michelle: I can emphatically say that 90-day planning is one of the most effective and important business tools an owner can have in his or her arsenal. Knowing where you want to be a year from now is an excellent start, but without an effective step-by-step process to get there, with periodic assessments and re-evaluations firmly in place, even the best-laid goals can flounder.

Even a sports game is segmented into quarters, with game strategy discussed, plotted, and finalized beforehand - and such games may only last several hours! A business owner can liken himself to an athletic coach, and the movement of each team player must be discussed and evaluated much the same way. Dividing your business world into 90-day segments is an effective and powerful way to achieve the results you want.

How To Achieve a Great 90-Day Plan

• Dedicate a full day away from the office each quarter to work ON your business. Large corporations have been utilizing the 90-day planning method with their key management for ages - and, perhaps they are larger companies now because of such an effort? Making your planning session a special occasion outside of your business locale will get you away from the day-to-day noise of the business and allow you to concentrate on growing the business.
• Take the time to fully re-evaluate your previous quarter. It is critical to learn from past mistakes, or areas that have bogged you down and/or wasted your valuable time. Then adjust! 90-day plans are all about tweaking processes and revitalizing enthusiasm.
• Utilize resources other than your own employees. An outside perspective is invaluable and will keep things realistic and in perspective. If you are unsure how to begin, attending our seminars is an excellent way to guide you through the process should you want that extra help!

No More Indecision

Running your business by the seat of your pants is never a smart move. The best laid plans in the business world run in 90-day cycles, allowing you to maintain control of your destination at every juncture in the year. Start your 90-day planning schedule to achieve maximum, winning results!

About the Author, Michelle Landis

Michelle is a certified Master Business Coach and owner of ActionCOACH of Greater Lehigh Valley/Berks. She is an educator and a business professional with over 25 years experience in the business world running both small and medium sized businesses. She has an extensive background in education, executive management, sales & marketing, operations and entrepreneurial pursuits that include international consulting in China, extensive teaching and educational endeavors as well as executive leadership roles with General Electric, Dun & Bradstreet and Armstrong World Industries. Her leadership skills have delivered over $58 million to the bottom line. Get a BUSINESS HEALTH CHECK with Michelle or connect with Michelle on FACEBOOK, join her on LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter.

Join master business coach Michelle Landis, as she strives to create success and abundance for every business owner with the ActionCOACH method of focus, accountability, and results. Visit our weekly Q & A session as Coach Michelle tackles real questions on a variety of issues - and provides you with answers that will BRING RESULTS for your company!

Question of the Week: “I know that effective leadership is one of the most important factors in running a successful business, but what can you tell me that will help in the trenches?”

Coach Michelle: It’s true - we can read a million articles on effective leadership skills and how to develop them and feel fairly prepared after doing so. But when you’re neck deep in a sticky real-world situation, or one that requires on the spot decision making, it’s easy to find the waters a bit muddy. What’s the best course of action? What action, or reaction, will cause your employees to rally with positive and creative motivation?

Much like superior athletes need to prepare themselves for events - engaging not only physical aspects, but mental and emotional energies as well, leadership is a “whole-body practice” and requires preparation of many facets. An effective leader needs to prepare his or her “whole self” before important meetings - or even at the onset of every business day in order to keep an atmosphere of motivation and creativity. The best way to do this is to go over a “Leadership Assessment Checklist” frequently.

Ask yourself these 10 Essential Leadership Assessment Questions:

1. Are you focused on self-improvement? I like to refer to this as “be - know - do” attributes for leadership. The best kind of leader will continually seek to strengthen his own attributes by reading, self-study, and reflection.
2. Are you technically proficient in all aspects of your business? Although delegation is essential, a truly effective leader must know their job and have a solid familiarity with their employees’ jobs. If you don’t feel confident in this aspect, study up.
3. Do you take responsibility for your actions? Search for ways to guide your organization to new heights. When things go wrong - as they occasionally will - do not blame others. Just own up to it. It sets an excellent example for your employees.
4. Do you make sound and timely decisions? This is one area to study well, and even have a really good right-hand-man (or woman) to help you. Utilize good problem solving, decision-making, and any planning tools available to you. Hesitation or back-and-forth wavering is something you don’t want to project as a leader.
5. Are you a good role model for you employees? Be sure to set an example, for they will believe what they see - and not what they hear
6. Do you know your people personally and look out for their well-being? The importance of sincerely caring for your workers is quite important. It makes your business feel like a family - and families look out for one another and pick up slack if needed.
7. Do you keep your people informed? Know how to communicate with your people, and other key people within the organization. Let them be “in the know” since it promotes teamwork and cooperation.
8. Have you fostered a sense of accountability in your employees? These traits will help them carry out their professional responsibilities.
9. Do you ensure tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished? Effective communication with your employees or their managers is the key to this responsibility.
10. Do you engage in team building? By developing team spirit, you will be able to employ your organization, department, section, etc. to its fullest capabilities.

How many of these questions have you answered “YES” to? A score of 8 or 9 out of 10 is a pretty good indicator of solid leadership skills. But there is always room for improvement! You should periodically take this assessment to make sure you stay on track.

Remember, employees want to follow and to be guided by a leader who can clearly convey a sense of direction in business. Do you have a strong vision of the future for your company?

About the Author, Michelle Landis

Michelle is a certified Master Business Coach and owner of ActionCOACH of Greater Lehigh Valley/Berks. She is an educator and a business professional with over 25 years experience in the business world running both small and medium sized businesses. She has an extensive background in education, executive management, sales & marketing, operations and entrepreneurial pursuits that include international consulting in China, extensive teaching and educational endeavors as well as executive leadership roles with General Electric, Dun & Bradstreet and Armstrong World Industries. Her leadership skills have delivered over $58 million to the bottom line. Get a BUSINESS HEALTH CHECK with Michelle or connect with Michelle on FACEBOOK, join her on LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter.

Join master business coach Michelle Landis, as she strives to create success and abundance for every business owner with the ActionCOACH method of focus, accountability, and results. Visit our weekly Q & A session as Coach Michelle tackles real questions on a variety of issues - and provides you with answers that will BRING RESULTS for your company!

Question of the Week: “Sometimes I feel like my biggest time-waster of the week is the team meeting. How can I make team meetings more effective?”

Coach Michelle: A very common trap that a lot of businesses fall into - both small and large - is something known as the “high school” mentality. It occurs when co-workers lapse into negative competition, bickering, time squandering, intra-office cattiness and even the occasional grudge match. This serves nobody, as it simply wastes precious time, reduces productively and increases the stress load on everyone (even those hovering on the perimeter observing).

The institution of periodic and productive team meetings is one of the best practices to counteract negativity. They can serve to reinforce focus and vision, culture statements, momentum, goal monitoring, and the tracking of key performance indicators (KPI’s). The trick, or “golden ticket” is in how to carry them most effectively. Teams take cues from you - their leader - in every aspect of business. You are the orchestrator, so take the time to plan and execute your best team meetings possible.

Sound like a daunting task? It’s not really. Just follow these Six Simple Steps to Effective Meetings.

Step #1. Book them far in advance. Have a written calendar posted for all to refer to. This is important to both you and your employees - it takes 21 times for an action to become a habit, so keep at it! Makes sure participants are emailed the day before as well. Approach your meetings with a serious, “game-on” attitude.

Step #2. Only Invite Necessary Participants. Team meetings with more than 8 people are simply not effective. It’s much better to have more meetings with fewer people than fewer meetings with more people. If you have several departments, you will need to split your meetings to suit.

Step #3. Draft a Written Agenda. This will ensure that every meeting has a clear purpose and that you stick to it. Have a chairperson to keep things to time and ensure you do not drift into other areas. It’s also a good practice to circulate the agenda before each meeting.

Step #4. Have Rules - Game Rules. Nobody likes to be told what to do, it’s just inherent to human nature. But by explaining the rules in the context of a “game,” things suddenly become much smoother and easier to swallow - we all love our games and sports. For a successful team to embrace the rules, the leader must communicate the function of the rules, and why they will help the team “win.” Once the team knows the rules, they are actually freed to be creative and play the game the best it can be played. If a player clearly knows the boundaries, then he is free to play the game. If he is unsure, he will move very slowly and tentatively, and drift into the negative tendencies discussed earlier.

Step #5. Support Risk Taking. This means that creative, out-of-the-box thinking is encouraged, and that new ideas and changes are welcomed and rewarded. It means that good is never good enough, and that continuous improvement, innovation, and experimentation are a fundamental part of your business culture. Fear of failure must not impede your team, so throw negative consequences out the door. Let your team know that some failure will be necessary, and is part of the learning and growth process.

Step #6. End with an Action Plan. By the time the meeting is adjourned, every member of that team should have a clear set of goals, broken into action steps, and an end date for accountability. Talk and analysis with no action is really non-productive, because you really learn nothing until action is taken and you produce a result and a response. Our saying is that “seminars don’t work, but people do.” Our team is who takes the action (thus the name ActionCOACH!).

Take Action by scheduling your first team meeting to discuss “rules of the game” and your “action plan” and follow these simple steps. You will be amazed at the results!

About the Author, Michelle Landis

Michelle is a certified Master Business Coach and owner of ActionCOACH of Greater Lehigh Valley/Berks. She is an educator and a business professional with over 25 years experience in the business world running both small and medium sized businesses. She has an extensive background in education, executive management, sales & marketing, operations and entrepreneurial pursuits that include international consulting in China, extensive teaching and educational endeavors as well as executive leadership roles with General Electric, Dun & Bradstreet and Armstrong World Industries. Her leadership skills have delivered over $58 million to the bottom line. Get a BUSINESS HEALTH CHECK with Michelle or connect with Michelle on FACEBOOK, join her on LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter.

Join master business coach Michelle Landis, as she strives to create success and abundance for every business owner with the ActionCOACH method of focus, accountability, and results. Visit our weekly Q & A session as Coach Michelle tackles real questions on a variety of issues - and provides you with answers that will BRING RESULTS for your company!

Question of the Week: “I can never complete the list I set for myself at the beginning of the day. I cannot figure out where time goes. What am I doing wrong?”

Coach Michelle: Although right now you may not be able to imagine how you would find the time to “implement a time study,” it might be a crucial component to boosting your business’s profitability. The inefficient use of time is one of the major reasons small businesses fail! Conducting what is known as a “time study” is the first step in regaining control of your time. One study participant - a coffee shop owner - completed the study and realized that she was spending the majority of her valuable time cleaning… probably not the most effective task for an owner! This was a task that should have been delegated, freeing her time to pursue the more important aspects of her business.

If you have suddenly come to realize that you truly have no idea where your time is disappearing to, here are the steps you need to take:

Step 1. Grid Your Week. Set up a table, grid-style, of your work week. Each day should be broken down into half hour or hourly chunks. (Half hour will give you an even more in-depth snapshot into your day.) This will take quite a bit of commitment and focus on your part, as you cannot forget to mark each grid with exactly how you have spent your time.

Step 2. Identify Movement. Within each task, you need to carefully evaluate how much “movement” or “energy” it is taking you to complete a task. For example, the cleaning chores the coffee shop owner was completing took a high volume of moving, further draining her strength and resources for additional and more important ownership tasks.

Step 3. Organize Data. Arrange the tasks you have recorded over the past two weeks of tracking into a list. Then rate each item in two ways. First, by priority. What - in your eyes - are the most important and valuable tasks that you have completed during the study? Are there any that are missing completely? Second, add up the amount of time spent per task and list them in order of time spent.

Step 4. Analyze your Data for Incongruity. If most of your time is being spent on that task you have rated lower priority, you have got a bit of a problem that needs fixing - much like the coffee shop owner did! The lowest priority tasks will need to be delegated to other employees, or sub-contracted for efficiency.

Step 5. Complete a Task List and Default Calendar. Armed with the data you now have, you can easily create your own calendar of efficient tasks for the next two weeks. Your high priorities should be placed at the beginning of the day, with time allotted for menial tasks, such as emails or return phone calls placed down the line. If you don’t finish something in a day, at least it will be a much lower priority item, and can be simply moved into the subsequent day’s “to-do bucket.”

Time studies are not difficult to complete, they simply require a determined level of commitment and focus. But, I cannot think of one client who has successfully completed a time study, and not learned ENORMOUSLY from it. Yes, it’s that important! Good luck!