Finish It Friday: How to Seal the Deal!

by Michelle Hill-Smith
www.OnTaskAssistants.com
www.MichelleHillSmith.com


It's Friday. Simply Friday. You've worked for 4 days straight. None stop. So, what does another day mean?

FRIDAY. For me, Friday is that day where I put my mind in "Finish" mode. Sure, most weekends, I'm still working my butt off to meet deadlines. However, recently I've been accepting the need to quit at quitting time and stop all communication until the next work week.

How do you do that if there are tons of emails to be answered, posts to be posted and calls to be made?

I can only share with you what's worked for me for the past 3 years. The 3 years prior to those 3 were filled with chaos, non-stop incompleteness and massive burn-out...each and every day.

So, here's exactly how I'm able to manage my day-to-day routine and seal the deals for Friday (which always bring in the money):

1) SCHEDULE MY WEEK

My weeks are planned out. That doesn't mean that I don't allow unscheduled tasks invaders to not jump in line. I do. However, with my scheduled week, I give everything a timeline. All of my tasks are given a day, amount of time to complete and time stamp to have them done by for each day. Unscheduled tasks or requests from my clients have to go at the end of the line. That requirement is relayed to my clients and also comes with stipulations as well.

2) DESIGNATE A COMMUNICATIONS PERIOD

The nature of my business produces a high-demand for nurturing communication. It sounds weird, I get it. However, it's true. Many of my clients like constant, direct communication from me, however, it's not always productive. My solution is to have a specific call, email response period in place. For instance, my communications period is between 9am and 10am as well as 2pm and 4pm. At this time, I do call backs, follow ups, email responses, etc. Communication is always thorough as well. This eliminates the need to go back and forth.

3) SEAL THE DEAL ON FRIDAY

Leaving money on the table will obviously leave you broke. Friday, should represent a day to sum up all that you've done in the previous days as well as making the connection with your potential customers/clients. Set Fridays as the day to focus on locking in your clients or customers. For me, this includes a call-to-action that's requested by me. I want them to make a move so I leave the ball in their court until the next week. I send them information to get started with me and/or offer to walk them through the steps on Friday. This day, gives people enough time to take action over the weekend. Fill them up with enough good information, activities and fuel in order to make the decision right then and there or by Monday.

In conclusion, sure Friday is recognized as the week's end. However, going out with a major bang could be the difference between an effective work week that brings in money or one that just trickles over to the next work week.

Make your Fridays count.