Welcome back! It's good to see you again. Please note that I am now publishing all new material at my hub site: In Context Blog

Have you ever had a customer that you wished that you didn’t have? Someone that is rude, or hard to reach, or impossible to please? Of course, we all have (if you’re in Sales or Service that is). The crew at The Future of Work have put together a little quiz for us to use to analyze our customers, in order to determine if it’s worth doing business with them:

So how is it that you sort out the people who are wasting your time because they don’t have anything better to do from those who are seriously overcommitted and can’t be much help even if they wanted to?

How indeed? Well, there is a method of sorting the wheat from the chaff. Email this questionaire to each potential client, for them to complete (which is of course the first test):

“Due to our recent increase in business opportunities we have now found it necessary to pre-screen potential clients and partners. Our research has shown conclusively that one Professor George Acme (don’t write in, for God’s sake; we don’t know who thunk this up. Maybe Buford?) has developed a highly reliable tool for assessing the potential for a successful business relationship. Please take a few minutes and complete this brief questionnaire and answer as honestly as possible. Please bring a copy of this to our first meeting -if there is one.

Thank you.”

I want to talk to you because:

(5)____ I hope to establish a mutually beneficial business relationship
(4)____ I’m curious about what you do
(3)____ I sense you have business for me
(2)____ I’m out to make your day miserable because mine is
(1)____ I’d like to steal your ideas

People often tell me:

(5)____ I’m a caring, thoughtful person
(4)____ I’m usually a lot of fun to be around
(3)____ Sometimes I can be difficult when I don’t get my way
(2)____ I’m a deceitful, hateful person
(1)____ Nothing, because people don’t talk to me

I usually return phone calls:

(5)____ As soon as practical
(4)____ When I can make the time
(3)____ When I get the time
(2)____ When the mood strikes me
(1)____ Only if I think I can get something from you

Score your potential customer according to the points next to each answer. Then what? What is the point? The point is that not every customer is worth your investment of time and energy. In fact, there is only so much time and energy to be utilized so you need to use it in the best possible way. Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware have come up with The Rule of 2:

First, clean up your calendar, and then get to work making yourself more effective. How do you do that? First, you’ve got to realize you can’t do everything (no, not even you). And if something starts taking longer than some reasonable time, let loose of it.

Here’s our guidelines:

• You’ve got 2 minutes to take action on immediate requests for your attention. If you can’t handle it that quickly, then it needs to go to someone, or someplace else!
• You’ve got 2 hours (or less) to hold a face-to-face meeting. If it takes longer than that, you’re not planning!
• You’ve got 2 days to respond to an electronic request. If you can’t get to it by then, you’re wasting your time and everyone else’s.
• You’ve got 2 weeks to assemble a work team and commit to a plan. If you can’t find the right people and the right plan by then, the project will fail - and it must not have been very important anyway.

Check out The Future of Work for the rest of the Rule of 2. Because the next two months and two years are so very important.

I seem to be on a roll with the meme posts. There is a challenge at Jobacle (My Cubicle is Hell) that I wanted to take part in.

Some bloggers talk about their “real” jobs - others don’t. I encourage everyone who has a blog or a Web site to post the questions below and insert their own answers. Our careers all have ups and downs, and when we share the ride with the world, everyone sees that they are not alone. Give your readers some insight into your career - it’s good karma!

 So here are my answers to Career Questionnaire 1:

Worst Boss

I would have to say that my worst boss was at my first job after I moved to Connecticut. I was the Dining Room Manager for an upscale restaurant, good staff, great kitchen, terrible General Manager. She stole, she drank, she told lies and created drama. I had to quit before the police came around to ask questions. Yikes.

Best Boss

That is easy, his name was Gary Giuffrida, he was the General Manager of a restaurant I worked at in New Orleans (about 10 years ago). I learned more about supervision, the hospitality business, and fairness in dealing with others than any three people I’ve worked for since.

Most Innovative Colleague

This is a tough question, as I spent most of my work life in Hospitality Management, usually as a Service Manager for restaurants, hotels or banquet facilities. Innovation is something that tends to be frowned on. I would have to say that the most innovative colleague I ever worked with was Chef J.T. at the Marriott in Connecticut. He was easily the most talented and creative Chef I have worked with. And so cool under pressure - for a Chef that’s an innovation!

Most Rewarding Task

My career has been through a series of changes over the years, but I would say that my most rewarding task was surviving a round of firings at a restaurant (nearly everybody on the floor was sacked!) only to be made Head Waiter and trainer of all of the newly hired staff. We put together a terrific team and turned that place around. And the $$$$. I do miss the $$$$.

Best Item You “Permanently Borrowed“

I have a beautiful watercolor painting of a sailboat. An original. No one will ever miss it.

Most Embarrassing Moment

Hmmmm, one thing I try not to think about too much. Working as a temp one summer in construction, I nearly fell off a 40′ roof saving another guy who did fall off. We couldn’t tell anyone because we weren’t supposed to be over there, nor were we wearing safety equipment or proper attire. Never again.

Lowest Pay

Temp Courier for a bank - $5.15 per hour. Blegh. What made it worse? I knew they were paying the agency $12/hr. and when the bank hired me for full time I got a raise. To $5.35.

Worst Holiday Gift or Bonus

Only rarely have I ever received a Holiday Gift, so I suppose the worst was in my second year as a manager (and my first year of eligibility) at a resort in Connecticut, when the owner decide to stop giving bonuses!

Bonus: My Typical Day

It takes me about 6 minutes to get to work, so there is no time for any Books on Tape, but since I carpool with my wife who has to be at work an hour before I do, I have time for reading and what-not before I punch in. I am something of a Web-Worker, as my customers are the ones who contact our company via the Internets. Most of my day is spent calling the people who have sent product inquiries and attempt to get them to come in and buy something. I send quotes via e-mail and set appointments. When there is some down-time I check e-mail and RSS Feeds. Once in a while I have time for a post. Mostly I am busy with appointments and returning calls. I could definitely be doing something more challenging.

So there I am folks, in a nutshell. The part that makes this exercise so interesting is that I am totally re-designing my career by shifting industries. At the same time I am working to create a small business of my own in order to escape cubicle hell and stop having bosses altogether. Wish me luck! Stop by Jobacle and see what others are doing, and leave a trackback if you decide to join in.

From Jack Kornfield:

“We can sense the ever-changing waves around us, and breathe and relax. We can rest in the eternal present, the still point. We can learn that no matter what happens, we are home.”

I just received an email from DavidCo announcing a new “Train the Trainer” program:

David Allen is proud to announce our partnership with Linkage, Inc. a world-wide provider of the finest training solutions available. Find out how someone in your company can be certified to deliver the Getting Things Done methodology in-house, accelerating your whole team along the pathway to productivity.

The Getting Things Done Certification Program: A Path to Personal Productivity - Register today for this exciting new Train the Trainer Program!

If you are interested in our new Train the Trainer Program, the required one-day training workshop, Getting Things Done®: A Path to Personal Productivity - is now available. This will be offered in Boston, Washington DC, San Francisco and Chicago in the US and in Calgary, Canada. It features new instructional materials from your personal productivity experts at The David Allen Company.

We’re so delighted to announce this new opportunity as GTD continues to spread globally. Want to boost your GTD performance right now? Click here to Get Connected.

Hmmm… Washington isn’t so far away…