Keep your focus on the target, even on a snow day!
Man and boy (probably Allakariallak and Phillipoosie), c.1920. Robert J. Flaherty, photographer. McCord Museum.

I hear now that the way to get a day off from school due to snow/ice/wind storms is to put a spoon under your pillow and wear your PJ's inside out. We didn't have those little pieces of voodoo when I was growing up, but that unexpected day that happens due to weather was just as welcomed and just as sweet. A whole day to do nothing – what a treasure!

But isn't it interesting how your perspective changes when you become an adult and the office is closed? A whole day ahead in which you can do nothing – YIKES! You have budgets to meet, reports to prepare, avails to be answered and clients waiting from proposals. The kid in all of us is still secretly doing a little happy dance because your time is your own and you can spend the day in sweats, but if you are a sales manager or commissioned media sales person, that kid is wrestling with the adult who knows there is work to be done.

So, how can you enjoy a day of daytime television, comfort food and hot chocolate while still being productive? The so called “snow day” – be it from ice, high winds, or hurricanes – can become one of your best days.

• Be sure you are able to access your account list from home. If you don’t have an on-line CRM system, email your list to yourself when the storm warnings start.
• Prioritize your accounts. If you don’t have an account priority system, at least rank your accounts so you can see which ones are bring you the most money. Make sure you are recognizing them for their ongoing business and consider ways to sell them more. After all, they already like you and your station. Identify which ones have the POTENTIAL to bring you big dollars. Develop a plan for each account to get them to live up to their potential. And, pare down your list. Throw back those small fish. Put them on the Open List and let someone else give them a shot. Determine which accounts are worthy of your focus.
• Add and update contact information. This is a perfect day to surf the web to find email addresses and perhaps identify people with your accounts who you SHOULD know. Go to the “contact us” section on their website or search their corporate site. Add their phone numbers to save time in the future.
• Work on building your virtual relationships. Get on LinkedIN or Twitter and connect with your clients. Recommend them and “follow” them. Reach out via email to those contacts you haven’t “talked” to in a while. Dig around in that drawer we all have and pull out some thank you notes or personalized note paper. Write (literally!) notes to your top clients and prospects, thanking them for their time and business. That unexpected piece of mail will bring a smile to their faces, guaranteed.
• Make a plan. If you have access to past billing, check to see what accounts were on last year but not on this year. Look three to six months out so you have time to develop those prospects. Make sure you have enough prospects in your sales funnel to make your future goals.

Make that unexpected day off due to weather a productive and profitable day, and everyone in the Sunbelt will envy you that they don’t have those happy surprises!
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