Simple Suggestions for Time Management

It often has been said that one of the basic difficulties for newspaper advertising salespeople is their inability to use time efficiently. To be sure, time organization is difficult. We have only 24 hours in a day-only about eight for work-and tight discipline over those hours is not easy for most people, especially for those of us who tend to be a bit disorganized anyway.

Be on time or even early to the office in the morning.
Make calls on way to office.
Call on accounts before they get involved in day’s problems.
Make calls before you get involved in day’s problems. Many problems that come up in your absence can be taken care of by others.
Get out of office early, setting a time goal and sticking to it. Getting out early or late quickly becomes a habit.
Route calls intelligently, geographically.
Work special section and new business calls in with regular calls, because setting aside special time often proves unrealistic. When making any call, review mentally all upcoming special sections to see if particular call is prospect.
Take advantage of waiting time in these ways: Check store for co-op opportunities; Get paperwork done; Don’t wait too long on anyone call.
Make time with advertiser count in these ways: Be sure you talk to decision-maker or person who can influence decisions (easy to go wrong on new calls); Don’t waste time with small talk; Have clear-cut objectives in mind on each call, accomplish, and then leave; Don’t spend too much time with one advertiser, being especially careful about spending disproportionate amount of time with advertisers of limited potential; Understand in detail what advertiser wants before leaving because it’s pointless to have to telephone after returning to office.
Call in from outside. Call at least once, both morning and afternoon. After receiving messages, call other newspaper departments or advertisers who are trying to reach you. Why wait until you get back?
Take full advantage of telephone. Use to make appointments. Use to confirm appointments. Call (or have clerical staff call) when running late for appointment. Group calls, if it makes sense to do so. Don’t spend too much time with one call.
Delegate work. Develop your ability to get things done through others, so you can plan, think, and make more and better prepared calls. Let clerical staff pull and send tearsheets. Let creative services do production, as well as spec layouts. Let department heads (production, accounting, etc.) handle problems instead of getting involved yourself.
Plan next day’s work the night before.
When you cannot afford to be interrupted: Have clerical staff hold calls; Utilize conference room or other space not in use for uninterrupted work.