As I transition into my new role as a client account manager here at LeadJen, the balance between work and home has been a challenging yet interesting feat. I set very high goals for myself and work hard for my clients on their program and that includes still making calls to set appointments. But the challenge is keeping my family first.
This month made my goals especially challenging with 2 of my 3 kids sick and frequent doctor visits, an ER trip in the middle of the night, while still fixing dinner, doing laundry, and making sure I still exercised and slept. This forced me to reevaluate how I spent my time. There are three things I did to make sure I was able to make the best use of my time.
- Review my calendar daily- I started my day off with checking my calendar and reviewing what I had set for the day. This allowed me to think about what I needed to prepare for and what steps I needed to take to make sure my day ran smoothly. If I saw that I had back to back meetings from lunch time to the end of the day, I knew I needed to eat lunch a little earlier because I wouldn’t have time to once my meetings started. I tried not to let my schedule catch me off guard. I liked to be able to build my other tasks around my meetings and in order to do that I needed a high level view of my day.
- Prioritize Tasks- This is something that sounds so simple but was a challenge for me. There are many different factors that make something important. Does the client need this today? Can it be pushed to tomorrow? Why would I need to push it to tomorrow? What are the impacts of the priority I have set? These are all questions I ask myself when making a priority list.
- Send quick emails- A lot of time I found myself toiling over what I would say or how I would say it. Many times I wouldn’t respond to a client until I actually had an answer. I realized that this was not the best use of my time. Clients want to know that they are heard. Even if you don’t know the answer right away, it’s best to acknowledge receipt at the very least. I began to acknowledge that I received emails, and provided the client with a timeline as to when they should hear back from me. This built the trust relationship between me and the client and gave me some time to find the answers I needed. The client knew I was working on finding a solution and the red flag turned yellow for at least a little while.
Most importantly, I made sure I followed through with my timeline. There were a few late nights to make up for the time missed, but I felt so accomplished, it really didn’t matter. I was able to prove to myself that with all of the tasks and expectations associated with my new role, I can accomplish them with deliberate planning, great communication, and being open minded that there was light at the end of the tunnel.
-Written By Kristi Wallace, Client Account Manager