Welcome Professionals…
…I am using a CRM tool for all client development activities. The tool offers the functionality to set reminders on when to follow up on a certain topic and when to call my client prospects again. I like this functionality a lot. Checklists work for me really well.
When I opened my CRM tool with all the reminders this morning it had 185 due items. As strong as I feel pleasure to cross out an item on my to-do-list, just as strong it gives me the creeps when I see 185 open tasks! I immediately went through feelings of pressure, stress, and even helplessness.
Then I made up my mind. Why did I set up all these items? In the end these are not reminders for work that has to be done as tasks of a paid project. These are activities that I am planning to do in order to generate more business. The goal is actually not to get rid of the items, but to keep a continuous flow of business development activies which will lead to more opportunities.
From now on I will call my open CRM items the “opportunity list”. It is not a “to-do-list” in the narrow sense. It is a “want-to-do-list” to achieve more business and therefore an “opportunity list”. This context shift helped to get started right away. After 2 hours, I was down to 164 items. I am glad that I still have some opportunities left for tomorrow and next week!
Malte