I know this topic is supposed to be motivational and get-off-your-butt-and-do-something-ish, but I’m just not going to follow what’s expected.
I live in Portland, have most of my life. I used to take pride in the whole “I’m an Oregonian, I don’t need no stinkin’ umbrella!”, but the last few years the winters have felt longer and more dreary. So the summer time is a time to recharge my batteries. I go on vacation, I go camping, I see concerts, I load up on fun. I strongly suggest you do the same.
However, we can’t let our business come to a screeching halt because we want to enjoy the weather. So I’ll give you a few of my key pointers to help keep you productive throughout the summer.
Automation
Efficiency is one of my favorite topics. If there is a way to do our business, but more effectively, we all should. Thanks to the power of the Internet, we can automate our work process very easily.
Set Expectations
Before we can automate, we also need to set realistic expectations with our current and potential customers. I have found it is best to just let people know if you’re going to be away. Set a realistic response time, clearly outline when you’ll be completely on vacation (give yourself a little buffer on the back end to catch up) and let them know where to go if they need urgent help.
Blog
Your blog is a great way to keep your automation running. If you’re using WordPress, there’s a couple of ways to improve your automation:
- Write a few posts ahead of time and use the future-dating feature to make them appear as though they go live immediately.
- Use the cformsII contact form plugin and set an autoresponse to contact form submissions. Let them know if you’re going to be away and how long. Point them to additional resources.
- Either manually setup a FAQ page or use the FAQ-Tastic plugin to refer people to in case they have questions.
Email Newsletters
If you have an email database that you’re marketing to (if you’re not, let me help), you should be using a service that allows you to setup timed emails. I use MailChimp and have a variety of lists that have automated messages sent out a day after they join the list, a week later, a month after that, etc. These take a few minutes to setup initially, but once they’re setup you’re done.
Regular Email
Be sure to set your out of office message, but again, be as helpful as possible without actually checking your email. Give links to your FAQ, let them know when they can realistically expect a response and consider setting up an “urgent” email account that is attached to a different cformII on your web site that goes out with your out of office response.
Phone Calls
Consider a voicemail to email conversion tool that also goes to your “urgent” email account. I use YouMail because it works very well with my BlackBerry and offers plans that work for my usage. Let people know that emails will receive faster responses and that they can either email you or leave their email address in the message, which is then transcribed and you can email at your leisure.
Do you have any tips for staying productive during the summer while still enjoying the beautiful weather? Share below in the comments.
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