How to take back control of your time... in meetings and other interactions!  

This morning I made a BIG change in our property management meetings here at the office.  On the big plasma TV we have in the conference room to show listings on... I set up a 15 minute countdown timer (just google it).  When everyone came in for the meeting I said "we're trying something new today, from now on our meetings will last 15 minutes" everyone laughed, but guess what... we were in and out quicker than we've EVER been (we took about 20 minutes, but that's because we decided to revamp our filing system so that took a few minutes longer). 

When people know they have a deadline or a time frame, they say their piece very concisely and cut out all the fluff!   Here's what I like about this:  meetings suck! Everyone hates coming to meetings.  But they're also important!  We all need to know which properties are gone, what's new, rent price changes, legal updates, etc.  I want our meetings to be a HELP to our business bottom line, not a distraction from what you should be doing!  I foresee that this change will do several things:

• They'll get to the meetings on time because they know they'll be short
• They'll be prepared with the updates they need to give because they know they'll only have a short time
• They'll advise us in advance of any major thing they need to go over in case they need more time
• They'll LOVE the meetings because they know they'll get in and out quickly and get the info they need to go make money

How can you use that in YOUR business or day to day life?  I can see a few ways for you to take control of your time...

How about that customer/friend/co-worker that tends to turn what should be a 2 minute call into a 30 minute blah-blah-blah and on and on... (go ahead, laugh, I know you've got one or two of those people in your life!).  The next time they call you can START the conversation with "I'm glad you called, but I've got a (conference call, client meeting, webinar, etc.) that starts in 5 minutes so we'll have to make it a quick conversation".  This sets the rules for the call right up front so if they DO talk on and on it won't appear rude when you say "oh, it's 2 minutes until my webinar and I've still got to log in!"  

Also, when I meet with Central Florida real estate buyers or sellers they will often say "how long will it take to do the papers?" and my answer is "that depends on you and how many questions you ask and if you want to chit chat or just get down to business!  I've got some clients that have bought lots of houses before and they don't want me to go through every single document, those take about 15 minutes, other clients want me to read every single line to them and that can take an hour or more... how long should we allow for your appointment because I'm OK either way?"  Their answer will give you a good idea of what type of client you're dealing with.   (Note, when I meet with a short sale seller in Central Florida, I don't need any extra time because I've already answered their short sale questions before we even meet through my marketing pieces!)

Lastly, If YOU run a meeting... ANY kind of meeting at all, respect the start and end time.  In my women's networking group that meets once a month, everyone gets 30 seconds to stand up and do their "info-mercial" and we have a timer that beeps at 30 seconds, but many of the ladies were ignoring it and would continue talking even after it beeped.  If you say something during or after the presentations, then it looks like you're pointing a finger at someone in particular and may create hard feelings.  I've started now telling them the "rules" of the 30 seconds BEFORE anyone takes their turn and it goes something like this:  "Please keep your introduction to 30 seconds... each lady will get the same amount of time.  Just to let you know up front... if you keep talking after the beeper goes off, nobody even hears what you say because they now are just wondering if you didn't HEAR the beep or if you are just that disrespectful of their time"  It's amazing how EVERY SINGLE intro stays under the 30 seconds when we do it that way!  And nobody is embarrassed because you didn't mention it AFTER they took too long!  (yes, it's very firm, but when you RUN a meeting, you are expected to keep the meeting on track.  That's your JOB!)  

Next week I'm going to implement the time clock in both my Sales Meeting AND my career night presentation!  Can't wait!  It's going to free me up so much more time to be productive! (or just some more ME time to work out, grab some sushi with friends, or maybe play some Wii!)