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Hi,
Have you noticed how hectic the malls get at this time of year? People scurrying around from one place to the next, pushing their way through hoards of their compatriots and not even getting as much done in that measly lunch hour as they would have hoped.
All that stress!
Granted, this time of year is exceptional when it comes to crowds, shopping deadlines, and general anxiety. Personally, from about the beginning of November we stay as far away from the malls as humanly possible at the weekends (lucky for some hey?). Where midweek shopping won't suffice, "hello" Amazon!
Which brings us nicely to the point of today's article. It's NOT just at this time of year where doing things smarter rather than harder should be first choice – yet clearly that is not the case for most.
Happy reading (and learning!)
Until next time,
PS: The Marketing Edge is now being published monthly on the 2nd Wednesday. The next issue will arrive in your inbox on 9th December.
When last did you take a walk around town during a so-called peak period?
As you walked past the various shops, banks etc, did you notice the common denominator? Queues, queues, queues everywhere.
There could be any number of reasons. Yes. But I suspect that the number one reason is simply that 'Joe Public' (that could even be you!) is stuck in a rut!
We're all creatures of habit, its in our nature, and we all find ourselves doing things a particular way because we've always done it that way and often we refuse to explore alternatives.
In our businesses, we can't afford to keep doing things the same way as we've always done because we will either stagnate or go backwards. Well, here's a newsflash: If you keep going to busy places, at busy times, and rejecting far more effective alternatives, we will keep having to stand in queues!
So what are the smarter alternatives?
Lets look, one by one, at the three places we find ourselves queuing the most.
1. The Bank
Ten or twenty years ago, if you wanted to do any banking whatsoever you had to physically make a trip to your branch {gasp}.
These days pretty much anything you need to do involving your banking, finances, or bills can be done another way. There really is no need to join that long queue that extends out the door and around the corner.
Standing Orders and Direct Debits are the smarter way to pay your bills. Your utilities, TV license, credit and store cards can all have their payments set up to be deducted automatically on the date of your choice. No more late payments or arrear notices, and many suppliers even give you a discount for paying that way – bonus!
If you need cash you still don't have to visit the bank – simply use the many cashpoints or ATMs dotted around. You don't even have to use your own bank's machine, as the vast majority allow you to make use of theirs at no charge. Heck, you can even make a deposit at the machine, so again you can avoid joining that horrendous queue.
And honestly now, if you still haven't applied to use the telephone or internet banking facilities that your bank offers you really are missing out on a trick. You can apply for loans, overdrafts, and credit cards this way. You can even transfer funds to somebody else's account locally or abroad, without ever having set foot inside the bank!
(By the way, if you are concerned about using these alternatives with the growing threat of Identity Theft, you can learn how to protect yourself by reading my free e-book. It's available in the subscriber download section of our website.)
2. The Post Office
This is another place notorious for its long queues.
Are you still one of those people who makes a special trip to the Post Office to renew your road tax each year? Why not make use of the DVLA facility to renew online? You can do it in a few minutes and you don't even have to worry about finding your MOT certificate or remembering to take your insurance details out with you – the clever clogs at DVLA can verify all that information automatically! I've used this facility myself for about the last three or four years, and always got my new tax disk in less than a week.
I don't even buy stamps at the Post Office anymore. Rather, I use the nifty facility on the Royal Mail website where I can buy postage online and print it directly on to the envelopes!
3. The Supermarket
There are at least three different ways to do your grocery shopping nowadays, and which choice you make depends entirely on your own personal preference. I vary my choice depending on how much I'm actually buying (these days I have to figure out what I can fit into the little basket area under Maddie's pram), whether I'm purchasing heavy items, or doing a large monthly shop.
If it's just a few things, I quite like the new self-service checkouts that all the major retailers have installed. It's often a lot speedier to ring items up this way, than joining an 'express' queue, that never really seems to be that 'express' afterall.
If I'm shopping for a larger amount of items, I like to use the 'self scan' facility that Sainsburys offers. I must be honest that I haven't found a similar facility at Tesco, Morrisons or Asda – hopefully they'll get with it soon though.
All I need to do is grab a hand-held barcode scanner from the front of the store, and scan the items as I place them straight into bags in my trolley. Once I'm done I hand over the scanner and my payment to the checkout assistant and I'm out of there!
And for my larger monthly shop, where frankly I just don't have the time to walk up and down the aisles, nor the inclination to lug heavy groceries around, nothing beats an online shop. I can pick the day and time I want to receive my groceries, upload my shopping list, and voila. The doorbell rings with my delivery right when I expect it.
I can't tell you how many stress-free hours I have saved myself over the last few years by just exploring and then using the alternatives available to me. I would much rather my precious time be used in a more productive way!
Now think about ways that you can get out of your rut, and claw back some of those missing hours, days, and weeks to do more productive things.
If you would like to learn how to make more profit while working less, please visit our website to see how we can help!
©Vanessa Deakin and Zee2A Limited 2009.
Vanessa Deakin works with Professional Small Business Executives yearning to take their business to the next level. Through one-on-one and group mentoring programmes she helps them to create sustainable marketing strategies that attract more clients at profitable rates. To learn more, sign up for her e-zine, or make an enquiry please visit www.zee2a.com.
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