Story at a Glance

Pre-planning essenlial. .all participants should contribute ...poor organization wastes time. ..length doesn't indicate quality...fewer meetings are better.

desired results?" Being satisfied with minimal results from uninformed or hastily informed meeting participants is a gross waste of management time.

Meetings vary according to objective. For example, if the objective of the meeting is to have top salesmen share their techniques with others, it is important that these high performers be recognized as stars at the outset. The meeting should focus on them, giving them the limelight they deserve. They, in turn, should be prepared to make a genuine, well presented contribution to the program. Give the others attending the opportunity to admire and envy these top salespeople.

A little bit of drama can provide optimum results. This can be the place to recognize accomplishments, making sure that the reward honors the receiver and inspires others to be future recipients. For example, company monogram blazers readily identify the wearer as having the right stuff.

Sales meetings should be relative, say the experts. Some of the things which they feel have been overdone include slide shows, films, meetings longer than three hours, passive oneway sessions of more than 30 minutes and those little exercise breaks to relieve the tedium. Instead, they suggest meetings should concentrate on answering "Why should I listen to this?", "What's in it for me if I do?" and "What should I do as a result of all this?"

Informal sessions following short meetings are recommended for obtaining maximum results. If you hold your sales meeting at a resort or country club type location, allow those attending time to use the recreation facilities. The exchange of ideas on the golf course is often more productive than sitting in a meeting.

Meetings to establish policy or new methods of operation, or to solve problems achieve the best results when attended only by those immediately responsible. Those who are not eontributors can be sent copies of the agenda and, follow-up results or be called together for a brief informative session. Sitting in a meeting in which you are not a contributor is a waste of time and money.

Avoid meetings whenever possible. Often a formal session is unnecessary if the manager will go onto the sales floor or into the yard to discuss the problem with the personnel involved. Formal settings are not required for productive action.

Parliamentary procedure is a hangup with many managers. Meetings must be orderly, but the meeting which follows a stilted format is not always the meeting which accomplishes the most. Follow the rules necessary for achieving the desired results in the most efficient manner and ignore the rest.

In brief, meetings must have objectives which are well identified and known to all attending. Only people who can contribute should come and they should be well prepared. Avoid making speeches. Communicate. Take action.

Falvey's final word of caution is "Never forget that the Gettysburg address was in fact delivered by Edward Everett, who spoke for one hour on the significance of the event of the day. Lincoln was merely asked to $ay a few words to close the program,tt managers usually have time managemenr habits, but there is nothing mysterious about using time wisely.

Good time management has no single secret, just dozens of simple, easy to learn habits to help you control your day and free your mind for creative thinking and planning as well as giving you more time to relax and enjoy your life away from the store.

According to the experts at DaYTimers, Inc., an organization devoted to helping managers save time and money every business day, you can turn time into a valuable business tool by establishing a set of good time habits.

First, they recommend that you set goals. Without well planned, written goals it is too easy to drift through the day-sometimes quietly enough, but more often getting hit by "waves" of problems and emergencies that probably resulted from a lack of planning in the first place.

Your goals should be clearly defined. For example, they might read like this: o Add a profitable new product line or service over the next two years. o Open a new branch in three years. o Expand commercial contracts by l09o before the end of next year.

It is important that you write Your goals on paper. Make them realistic, but do write your goals down. Writ-