“Hear me now and believe me later!” – Hanz & Franz, Saturday Night Live
To-do Lists aren’t helpful when it comes to doing the hard work in sales and marketing.
For salespeople, the hardest thing to do is prospecting, for marketers, measuring marketing ROI. Both of these activities are ongoing and require constant and never-ending improvement, as the effectiveness of the tools and methods you apply will change.
A To-do list is “a list of tasks to completed, typically organized in order of priority.” But aren’t sales prospecting and measuring marketing ROI arguably essential activities for sales and marketing professionals?
While they are essential, these activities don’t belong on a To-do list; they belong on your calendar.
I would argue that at least a once (or twice or thrice) weekly block of time on your schedule is the only way to make meaningful progress on these activities. You could apply this approach to any critical activity.
Blocking time on your calendar for meaningful progress on essential activities ensures that you won’t leave them for the last minutes or when your schedule frees up.
I’ve found that blocking large chunks of calendar time for essential activities helps me stay focused, and I get the important things done faster and sooner.
Marketing and sales professionals are always busy.
Unless you block time on the calendar for essential activities, they won’t get done. Keep them off your To-do list.