I was recently invited to a talk by Phil Styrlund about adding value to B2B relationships, sponsored by Vistage. Almost as an aside, Phil mentioned this matrix, which I quickly scribbled on my napkin. I don’t remember what he called it, or if he had a name for it — so I’m calling it the Doing-Not-Doing matrix.
How the Doing-Not-Doing matrix works
Going clockwise starting at the top left, brainstorm:
1. Important things you are doing. Something is important if it has a significant impact on the top or bottom line — does it improve profitability, drive sales and repeat business, increase referrals, reduce costs? Keep doing it.
2. Important things you are not doing. If something is important (see above) and you are not doing it, start. For example, if you do not have a system in place for following-up with prospects and nurturing past customers — get one. This is an example of something that is very important – because it has a significant impact on closing rates and repeat business – but few companies have mastered.
3. Unimportant things you are not doing. Avoid these things. Duh.
4. Unimportant things you are doing. One word: stop. Make sure your time is spent focusing on the main things. No matter who you are, don’t fall into the trap of spending your time on tasks that don’t have a significant impact on important stuff, like: attracting and nurturing customers, and closing more sales.
Sometimes it’s tempting to let tasks and distractions that are not fundamentally important suck up time and energy. Now, more than ever, make sure your team stays focused on the important stuff.
