How I Never Forget to Call a Client or Prospect: The Secret of the Never-Ending Task

I rarely complete a task on my to-do list

This may sound like I am a regular under-achiever. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. I usually end the day with an empty to-do list. My secret is in using never-ending tasks.

What is a never-ending task?

A never-ending task works on the idea that one doesn’t end tasks. Instead, we simply reschedule them. Often the rescheduling is accompanied by a slight change in what we want to achieve from the task.

In order to understand the principle of the never-ending task, let’s look at how I plan my sales tasks using a daily task list.

Here’s an example of a never-ending task

Let’s say I have just sent a first sales letter to my new prospect Mary. I now make a new entry in my daily task list. I know that in three days time I must contact Mary to make sure that she received the letter and to find out her thoughts on it. However, in three days’ time, I phone Mary to find that she has a day’s holiday. So my task remains on the overdue list until the following day.

On the following day, I call again and make contact with Mary. She has read the letter but wishes to discuss it with a colleague. We agree that I should make contact again in a week’s time. Therefore, I do not mark my task as complete. I simply change it to a due date of one week’s time. I never delete the Mary task until I decide to take her off the list because she is not going to convert to a client.

When I started using never-ending tasks, my life became a lot simpler! I can manage the never-ending task system using either a digital task management app like Todoist or a paper diary.

Now it is impossible for me to forget to do something

A prospect can never fall off my contact list unless I remove them. I have a regular reminder for all my tasks. And I can see exactly what I have left undone.

This happens simply because I have stopped completing my tasks …

P.S. Find out more ideas on how to increase sales with today’s buyers: download my free e-book “Ten Common Print Selling Errors and What To Do About Them” right now.  You’ll also receive my regular “Views from the print buyer” bulletin, full of ideas on how to sell print effectively. Also, check out my book, "How To Succeed At Print Sales: Setting targets, planning the right activities and making sure goals are met." Part four is full of practical, simple strategies to organize your week, manage your time and make your day-to-day life easier and more productive.