| In one of the "Dirty Harry" movies, Clint | | | | productivity plummets dramatically, I've |
| Eastwood quietly says, "A man must know his | | | | found after five hours.You should experiment; |
| limitations."Very true, and this definitely | | | | especially if you're an independent |
| applies to phone work, whether you're | | | | businessperson, or you're in sales and are |
| prospecting, appointment setting, or closing | | | | permitted to allocate your time as you |
| deals.It's not a topic I think about all that | | | | wish.By the way, if your tolerance level is |
| much, but it coursed through my mind tonight, | | | | only an hour or two, it's not wimpy to |
| as I was developing a prospecting campaign | | | | acknowledge it, and act accordingly, because, |
| that I intend to execute, myself.I think | | | | after all, Dirty Harry is right!Dr. Gary S. |
| people have different fatigue settings, but | | | | Goodman, President of |
| they're unaware of them.For me, doing | | | | Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular |
| outbound calling for an hour, and I mean a | | | | keynote speaker, management consultant, and |
| solid one, without breaks, is no big deal. In | | | | seminar leader and the best-selling author of |
| fact, I just start warming up, getting my | | | | 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell |
| phone voice strapped on at the half-hour | | | | Someone(R) and Monitoring, Measuring & |
| point.Two hours, with a quick break in there, | | | | Managing Customer Service, and the audio |
| is also comfortable.And that's it; my current | | | | program, "The Law of Large Numbers: How To |
| sweet spot, and no more.So, my campaign will | | | | Make Success Inevitable," published by |
| entail two hours of outbound for a month, and | | | | Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on |
| I expect it will yield optimal results for | | | | radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from |
| me.I realize it's not practical to have two | | | | USC's Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and |
| hour shifts at my clients' sites, so at | | | | an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at |
| minimum, we schedule four hour sets for their | | | | Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers |
| employees. But when I started doing outbound | | | | programs through UCLA Extension and numerous |
| selling for Time-Life Books, we worked only 3 | | | | universities, trade associations, and other |
| hours per night, and 4 hours on Saturday | | | | organizations in the United States and |
| morning, and it was ideal for college | | | | abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st |
| students.The phone can be a grind, and I've | | | | Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. |
| never recommended eight-hour shifts. The | | | | |