The Value of Found Time (A Lesson from Hurricane Harvey)
The most valuable asset in our lives is our time. How you manage your time and what you do with your time has a direct correlation, particularly in sales, to success and to your impact on the world.
What would you do with your time if you had an extra hour every day?
What would your sales reps do if they had an extra hour every day?
Some folks might goof off, go home early, spend time with the family, etc. If you are driving a performance culture you might make more customer calls, do extra prospect blueprinting, strategize more on process or spend more time with your customers.
But where do you find time and what will you do with it?
Let’s look to the recent Hurricane Harvey disaster for a possible lesson.
If you live on the Gulf Coast or along the Eastern Seaboard, Hurricanes are not a new phenomena to you. It goes without saying that every few years you will need to board up your house and either shelter through the hurricane or evacuate.
There is a level of preparedness that make things easier – such as the elevation of your home. A Houston-based friend of SalesDirector.ai named Arnold stayed home and waited out Hurricane Harvey with his family. Now, Arnold was prepared – which gave him confidence that his home could make it through the worst flooding that Houston has ever experienced.
When Arnold and his wife built his Houston home they knew they were in a low area that was prone to flooding. So before they poured the slab and foundation for their home Arnold talked to the neighbors. He asked them “if their house had ever flooded before?” When they answered “yes” he asked them to show him exactly “where” and “how high” the water came up to the house. He then took a level laser and shot a line from his neighbor’s highest flood point and then marked his property elevation another 12 inches higher than the neighbor’s high flood point.
Arnold was prepared. He planned in advance and worked hard to avoid disaster – years ago.
As a result – even in the midst of the biggest flood in Houston history – Arnold’s house did not flood. It came close – but his house did not flood.
The Hurricane Harvey Flood Came Close To The House But Stopped Short At The Front Porch
After a day or so, the water subsided. And since his house didn’t flood – he and his family had some Found Time. The streets were still flooded. The schools were closed. No one was going to work. But they didn’t have to repair or fix their house – so they decided to do something remarkable with their Found Time.
Arnold and his wife volunteer at a summer camp kitchen every year and have experience feeding 300 people at a time. So they decided to use their cooking skills and apply it to their newly Found Time. They started a GoFundMe page to start feeding people who were stranded, without a home, without electricity or were too busy helping other people to eat.
They hoped to raise $2,500 but ended up raising more than $20,000 to date….all with the sole intention of feeding other people in Houston.
You can learn more and even donate to the campaign here.
Arnold and his family had Found Time – and they used their newly found, highly valuable asset (Time) to help people in need. They made an impact on the world.
Now, we know that the struggles of sales process automation don’t compare at all to the death and destruction that Hurricane Harvey inflicted on Houston. We are not trying to make a comparison. But there is a lesson.
Everyday – you and your reps struggle with time management. You WISH you had more time so that you could get more done. You WISH you had another hour a day. You WISH you had the luxury to decide what to do with any Found Time.
In your quest to automate your sales process, to prepare, to fix your sales forecast and to increase the sales productivity of your reps – think about the VALUE of yours and their time. All the work you do to train your team and buy new software – should be yielding MORE TIME for you and your reps.
If your hard work isn’t yielding more time then you need to take a closer look at your process, your tools and your methods. If you want to find more time – you’ve got to plan and be prepared like Arnold was in Houston. Only then will you have an opportunity to do something remarkable with your time.
What will YOU doing with your newly Found Time?