Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Getting Help/Assistants

   At some point, once your business is well established, you might start to notice that you need help in your office. So, at what point do you get help, and how much do you need?
    Obviously every business is different but here's some points to keep in mind. When you have a steady customer base, steady bookings, and have started building a team your time will be best spend on your Income Producing Activities. Labeling, mailing, organizing your office, and entering customers might not be the best use of your time. Consider this: if you spend an hour of your time labeling catalogs instead of booking calls, your time spent labeling just cost you the amount you would have made if you had done your booking calls. At some point you will find that these simple tasks (non-IPAs) are holding you back and you may want to hire someone to do them for you. I would suggest, for simple office tasks, a teenager that could use some extra money would be a good fit in your office. They can set up your mailers, label catalogs/products, enter new customers into your database, and more if you have the means.
     You might also notice that most of the "higher ranking" individuals in your company have more than one assistant. They probably hired them once they achieved a larger team and needed help to maintain balance. I had the privilege of working for an extremely successful Sales Director, Kristin Rogers, in her office and I saw the benefit of having steady help in your business. She had an assistant for her personal and household management, as well as an assistant that managed her office. The office assistant did things like answer phones, take and fill online orders, answered team member questions (if possible), managed her schedule, plus all of the previous mentioned tasks. Her home assistant ran personal errands, took care of laundry and dishes, and even did the grocery shopping. What I'm getting at here is that her assistants, her help, allowed her to better prioritize her life. She was able to focus on the IPA's that made her business successful instead of getting swallowed by all of her tasks.
    Maybe it's too early to consider getting help with your business but keep it in your mind. Even help around your home may help you prioritize your life and your business.

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