Your Power Hour

"The needs of early and late-day customers are no different than peak hour selling. Be ready for every customer, squeezing excellence out to the edges of each day. This is the time to reward achievement!"

-- Janet Bartman

Today, I share one of my best secrets: "Your Power Hour."

It's rare that I meet someone who has not shopped at Nordstrom. I worked for them for more than 10 years, and in several of those years, I achieved the distinction of being a leader in annual sales volume in my division.

To achieve annual goals, my mindset was that of a marathon runner. One day, the store manager asked me what I was doing to consistently bring in top sales results. I told her about what I called my "Power Hours." They included the first hour and the last hour of my sales day. I knew that the needs of early and late-day customers are no different than peak hour selling, so I took it as a personal challenge to be ready for every customer, squeezing excellence out to the edges of each day.

Have you noticed that retail colleagues often chat at the register at the beginning of the day? Seeing this afforded me several early opportunities to jump-start my daily performance. Also, I never gave up on the last hour of my day - Power Hours were my bookends. Often I could double my daily volume by staying fresh and engaged for late customers, when everyone else was fading and ready to go home.

You may not be a retailer, but how do you use your first and last hour of the workday? Can you squeeze excellence out to the edges, for more daily productivity?

Janet Bartman is the Communications Director for a large professional membership organization in Spokane. She welcomes your comments.

Next Post: Power Hours, Part 2