Midnight Oil

The STORY:
Jenny got back to the office at 3:00pm on Wednesday with every intention of putting together the preliminary proposal for what could be one of the biggest clients she'd ever have. A two-hour job at most. She had promised to have a preliminary proposal to them first thing in the morning.

There, in her inbox, were one after another of 24/7 "While You Were Out" messages. Working through the list of call back messages, Jenny decided that they could all be called and dealt with within an hour. Some of them could be pushed off until the next day.

No problem, she thought, I'll run right through these. Take maybe an hour. That will leave me at least two hours to do the preliminary quote. I've got all the time in the world.

As she dialed the first return call, Jenny felt good. If I land this account, it will mean we have a really profitable client.

"Ah, yes, this is Jenny; I'm returning a phone call from..."

An in a very methodical fashion, the "While You Were Out" messages disappeared.

Returning the last phone message, Jenny wondered why no one was answering. Guess he's not in, she thought. Never going to succeed by keeping banker's hours.

Putting down the phone, she finally looked at the little clock in the corner of the pc screen. 6:10PM. No, thought Jenny, this must be wrong. The clock on the iPhone perched neatly on the desk confirmed the time. With a loud sigh, Jenny spent about 10 seconds wondering if she'd ever get home before 9 or 10 o'clock at night. She realized she could not remember the last time she'd cooked a meal at home.

"That's the price you pay to succeed," she said aloud to an empty office, "that's the price."

The RESULT:
Jenny spent another night working at the office. Perhaps the preliminary quotation would be accurate. Perhaps, with lack of proper rest, she'd still be able to make a good presentation the following morning, but none of this had to happen.

DISCUSSION:
One of the great, and usually destructive, tales of business handed down from one business owner to another, and from older salespeople to younger salespeople, is the burning of the midnight oil. "The only way to succeed is to burn the midnight oil."
"The sooner you start burning the midnight oil, the sooner you will have success."

This tale, this myth, is so powerful that many burners of the oil truly believe that long hours are really a sign of success.

So it is obvious Jenny has pledged allegiance to the miraculous effects of burning that oil. She will arrange her day to make sure that the oil will be burned.

Which of the following do you think Jenny would see as a sign of hard work leading to greater success:

1. Leave the office at 6:00 pm.

2. Leave the office at 10:00 pm.

Time's up. Make your choice.

If you picked number two, you are a true believer in the curative effects of midnight oil.

APPROACH:
How could Jenny have dealt with her phone calls and need to produce a preliminary quotation by 6:00 pm? It's as simple as a three-minute egg timer. Here's how it works. Jenny had 28 phone calls to return. Of those, at least half would result in voice mail, an answering machine, or the person would not be in. That left, at most, 14 contacts.

At the beginning of the conversation, all she had to do was state, "I've got three minutes to talk. Can we take care of your concerns in that time or should we schedule a phone call for tomorrow when I'm not limited?" Flip the egg timer over.

Jenny would have spent, at most an hour on the phone. That would have brought her to four o'clock instead of six o'clock.

The egg timer solution is not high tech; it's not fancy; it's not even expensive. But it works. And Jenny could have been out of the office by six.

THOUGHT:
Burning the midnight oil produces no light and ho heat. Why do it?