Too many notes!

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Christine

Taking notes is paramount to anyone who runs a business, whether it be during a client consultation, whilst at a seminar or workshop or  just jotting down our thoughts during a telephone call.  However, whether those notes will become effective is entirely dependent upon the way the way they are processed.

Over the past year, I have helped many clients and their businesses to become more efficient, but one hugely common problem seems that we are all busy making notes for this and that, scribbling down ideas or jotting down a useful contact a fellow business colleague has passed our way, only to find that 6 months down the line the information has remained in that notebook or on that piece of paper and has not been actioned in any way, shape or form – it has become stagnant and, actually, forgotten!

Whilst working with one of my clients – who now calls herself my “star pupil” (!) – I uncovered a total of about 24 separate notebooks and journals!!

Some of them were gorgeous too - leather bound or embossed - and had been used at some time or another to jot down business notes or information. My client hadn’t really got too much of an idea of the content, and as she proceeded to look through, realised she had neglected a goldmine of information and potential new clients!

SO HERE’S MY TIP: Use just one notebook at a time and transfer all the information you have taken down at the end of each day into your database, or type up seminar notes and file in a place where you can find them as a useful reference and cross off what you’ve transferred or tear out the pages. And if you get bored with the same notebook, or would like to be colour co-ordinated(!), use a different one on the following day, but the same rule applies: always transfer the information to a place where it will get acted upon.

In any case, make sure that those notes don’t get forgotten!

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