Wheelbarrow or the Puggle?

My Memorial Day weekend wasn't very relaxing- In some respects I'm glad to be back at the office!  My wife and I cleaned, straightened, gardened... and I moved 8 yards of dirt with a shovel and a wheelbarrow.  At one point, I gave my sore and sunburned body a break, and sat down inside with my puggle.  Of course, the puggle immediately wanted to play!

He had a chew-toy with which he was trying to "tempt" me, so I played along and grabbed it, hid it for a few seconds, then tossed it across the room.  He immediately ran to get the toy, brought it back and then chewed it within reach, just in case I wanted to grab it again- which I did... over and over for about 1/2 an hour.  After a while, going back outside to work didn't seem so bad.

My dog loved the play-time, though, and not just for the attention.  For him, the repetitive actions were a game- a very fun game.  I thought about playing with the toy while I was trudging loads of dirt around my lawn, thinking of a way to turn wheelbarrow-hauling into entertainment of some sort.  I couldn't come up with anything, and ended up just listening to my ipod to avert the monotony, but I still liked the idea.

In any job there will be times when we're faced with monotonous tasks.  Sales, in particular, has some repetitive aspects, from cold calls to stuffing envelopes to mass e-mails.  When boredom sets in, our enthusiasm and energy levels tank.  However, if there is a way to inject some fun into the actions, then they're not so dreary.  Some offices have contests.  Some have other means of adding variety.  Whatever you can come up with, turning something routine into a game can keep spirits up and productivity high.

At Obbee we're enthusiastic about sales leads.  We provide cutting-edge leads for professionals in the real estate, mortgage, insurance (home & health), debt settlement and loan modification industries.  Using proprietary internet tools, we can even match up prospects and salespeople in real time.  Better clients lead to better revenue- and making money is never boring!

- Dave :)