Go With the Flow or Make Your Own Rules?

When is the right time to send out a mailing, telephone a prospect, launch a new booklet, or do anything else you view as time sensitive? You will find as many different answers as people that you ask. Yes, there are some elements that can dictate your decision, some of those elements seeming very logical at that.

Let's say you have a lot of things on your plate at some given moment. Launching a new product that requires your attention needs to be scheduled at a time you can, in fact, give it the attention it deserves.

Studies have been done about the best times and days for press releases to reach journalists. For daily newspapers, it's Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings. Weeklies have a different schedule. And yet you may capture the interest of a journalist at some other time, "just because."

This week I am reminded of holiday schedules and the pattern of some people. This past weekend was the three-day Labor Day weekend in the US. It's the traditional ending of summer. When my electronic newsletter went out last night, there were a number of "Out of Office" autoresponders that came back to me. A number of my subscribers indicated a return to their office this morning and another group indicated September 11. Yes, that group was noticeable, however there's still lots and lots of people back at their desks today. By tomorrow, the past 3-day weekend will be a distant memory.

"Going with the flow" can sometimes be an excuse for not doing something, in my opinion. I've made some of my largest sales during the weekend between Christmas and New Year, when some people had the time to think through a decision without the typical interruptions of the regular business day because their own phone wasn't ringing quite so much and other distractions were absent.

You can make yourself crazier than you may already feel by searching for the "perfect" time for something. I'm not talking about jamming a square peg into a round hole, forcing something to happen. I am talking about throwing it against the wall when you are ready, because some of it will, indeed, stick!

Until next time,
Paulette - who usually operates on Paulette Standard Time
www.tipsbooklets.com