A post vacation motivator – can you make 2 minutes worth thousands (From Times Series)

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David Davis is managing director of the Mill Hill-based business, Total Purchasing Solutions. He has worked with more than 200 organisations ranging from schools to charities, retail chains and legal practices to help cut their costs and boost business.

A post vacation motivator – can you make 2 minutes worth thousands

3:13pm Monday 12th April 2010

I have just returned from 2 weeks away with the family and unlike the UK we had lots of sun (I have a sickening tan with my wife’s even better).

Above all, I was able to get away from the office - only checking the Blackberry once a day. I do this because I’m on holiday and it reminds me that the world will not stop revolving if I do not respond to every email within 2 minutes.

Now I am back in the office and raring to go; the question is what I do first. I decided to call all clients that are due to renew their utility contracts in the next 3 months to see if we can help them get a cheaper tariff. I found that 80% have received their renewal offers and ‘put the letter on file’. As a result of inactivity we have 15 clients who missed an opportunity to save money and at a minimum could have called the provider and with a 2 minute conversation made a 10% saving (we are able to achieve an average saving of 22%).

So my message today is – sometimes it is the activity outside your daily routine that will generate the big savings. Who would you tell if you made an extra £10,000 saving for your organisation?