Follow Up

I may have told you already but prior to being in the construction industry, I was in a sales environment for most of my corporate life. I learned some huge lessons along the way but one of the largest was one that I'm getting ready to share with you. One day when I was working in Chicago, I was having a sales meeting with my Regional Vice President. I really respected this guy and had known him for a long time. Not only was he my boss, but I considered him my friend. He was the kind of guy who you would run through a wall for. He would kick my tail to make me better but always left me understanding the lessons he was trying to teach to make me better; but I digress, back to the sales meeting. He was big into details and asked me if I had accomplished certain task items that he wanted me to do. I dutifully went down my list and rapped off all the things that I thought he wanted to hear and was totally expecting a reply of good job back at me. Instead, he got teed-off and told me something that I never forgot. He said Kevin, anyone can delegate anything but it takes a leader to follow-up. Man I was blown away by that comment. From that day forward, I ran out and grabbed a Franklin Planner that I still carry to this day. That was 9 years ago he made that comment to me. Whatever you do in life as your profession, there is so much competition- both internal and external. That one piece of advice has enabled our company to not only survive- but thrive in this downward housing market. The thing we preach around here is to follow-up. We preach it in our meetings, to our people and we live it day to day. We have even invested money in software programs that keep us accountable and ensure that we follow-up. If this is an area that you struggle in, just know that there are things out there and resources that can help you. You can start as simple as getting a good calender/organizer that you like, or use such free services such as Google Calender, Yahoo Calender, Microsoft Outlook, etc. to help you manage your day. Whatever you decide, invest some time in a program such as this to help make your life less stressful, and more manageable.