(no subject)
This is nice.
I had a good day at work today, though it is getting tough to spend my time wisely. Before I so recently began the real meat and potatoes of the position, my priority was to build a database. This database organizes and centralizes a lot of the information our account managers use to scout prospective clients, keep notes on follow-up meetings, and give parameters to others in our department for following up on a landed contract. In the first place, it is a cornerstone for systematizing our prospecting efforts and forces us to evaluate that approach. (Our clients are insurance agencies. We tend to find that fast-growing agencies are very good clients. So, we use the database to store and recall business growth data for each agency we're after. It helps us prioritize.) Secondly, it keeps us from writing down the same information in a proliferation of spreadsheets and sticky notes, which cuts back on mess and confusion when data change. Third, it gives us a sophisticated way to reflect on our progress. We can organize all this junk to tell us how well we've done, how we stand against our goals, and extrapolate where we're going.
Overall it's a fun task when some inane little bug isn't grinding me down and driving me to Google message boards for any hope of resolution. I've jumped a lot of those hurdles, and according to where we want this database to eventually be, there are more hurdles to go. But that's alright.
Nowadays, my main priority is calling. Cold calling. Cold calling agents, using this database I've built for my coworkers and me to use, and luring them into our service center. It's not too difficult to sell, fortunately, but without a good connection to the agent any cold call is a genial but slightly panicked cry for attention.
At the start, I said, "this is nice." Here's the nice part. I thought I would hate these calls. I thought I would stare in anxiety at the phone, feeling my head get lighter and my nose get stuffier, generally paying much more attention to the physiology of my stress than the task at hand. That is exactly what happened.
But when I started doing those calls, I was genial. I was conversational with people, warming up some rapport, and not sounding like an idiot over voicemails.
When you build yourself up for a letdown, this sort of success is a catalyst. It fires up your ego like an explosion. What people don't tell you about cold calls is, if you manage to do them well, it is positively exhilarating. Not unlike diving into a frigid stream (another thing I don't often do, or gladly).
So! Much nicer than I expected. I just need to remember, when I've got my back to the wall and staring down a telephone with a call sheet, have no fear. I've done it before, I can do it again -- and it will be rewarding. Reward is usually the farthest thing from my mind on calls like these... I think that's the problem.
Apart from that, it's pleasing to find even four hours at home in the evenings is relaxing. Before taking on a full-time job, I had so much (rather poorly-placed) concern that I would have no time for personal pursuits. Having gotten a full-time job, I can see how much time I wasted during the day on virtually nothing. Vast expanses of free-time are certainly relaxing, but honestly those hours seem badly spent when stacked against 40 working ones to coerce my remaining time to better use.
And some of that will be spent blogging -- some of it will be spent playing Tetris on the Internet against my girlfriend from Canada. LOLOL!
I had a good day at work today, though it is getting tough to spend my time wisely. Before I so recently began the real meat and potatoes of the position, my priority was to build a database. This database organizes and centralizes a lot of the information our account managers use to scout prospective clients, keep notes on follow-up meetings, and give parameters to others in our department for following up on a landed contract. In the first place, it is a cornerstone for systematizing our prospecting efforts and forces us to evaluate that approach. (Our clients are insurance agencies. We tend to find that fast-growing agencies are very good clients. So, we use the database to store and recall business growth data for each agency we're after. It helps us prioritize.) Secondly, it keeps us from writing down the same information in a proliferation of spreadsheets and sticky notes, which cuts back on mess and confusion when data change. Third, it gives us a sophisticated way to reflect on our progress. We can organize all this junk to tell us how well we've done, how we stand against our goals, and extrapolate where we're going.
Overall it's a fun task when some inane little bug isn't grinding me down and driving me to Google message boards for any hope of resolution. I've jumped a lot of those hurdles, and according to where we want this database to eventually be, there are more hurdles to go. But that's alright.
Nowadays, my main priority is calling. Cold calling. Cold calling agents, using this database I've built for my coworkers and me to use, and luring them into our service center. It's not too difficult to sell, fortunately, but without a good connection to the agent any cold call is a genial but slightly panicked cry for attention.
At the start, I said, "this is nice." Here's the nice part. I thought I would hate these calls. I thought I would stare in anxiety at the phone, feeling my head get lighter and my nose get stuffier, generally paying much more attention to the physiology of my stress than the task at hand. That is exactly what happened.
But when I started doing those calls, I was genial. I was conversational with people, warming up some rapport, and not sounding like an idiot over voicemails.
When you build yourself up for a letdown, this sort of success is a catalyst. It fires up your ego like an explosion. What people don't tell you about cold calls is, if you manage to do them well, it is positively exhilarating. Not unlike diving into a frigid stream (another thing I don't often do, or gladly).
So! Much nicer than I expected. I just need to remember, when I've got my back to the wall and staring down a telephone with a call sheet, have no fear. I've done it before, I can do it again -- and it will be rewarding. Reward is usually the farthest thing from my mind on calls like these... I think that's the problem.
Apart from that, it's pleasing to find even four hours at home in the evenings is relaxing. Before taking on a full-time job, I had so much (rather poorly-placed) concern that I would have no time for personal pursuits. Having gotten a full-time job, I can see how much time I wasted during the day on virtually nothing. Vast expanses of free-time are certainly relaxing, but honestly those hours seem badly spent when stacked against 40 working ones to coerce my remaining time to better use.
And some of that will be spent blogging -- some of it will be spent playing Tetris on the Internet against my girlfriend from Canada. LOLOL!