Date: Friday, September 17, 1999 11:59 AM

Sales Director Jill Benavides from Cincinnati, OH--Time Management

I'm Sales Director Jill Benavides from Cincinnati, OH in the Sue Kirkpatrick National Area, 4th offspring of Lisa Anne Harmon. I have been a basic skin care customer since age 17. My sister gave me the set - complete with oatmeal mask - as a going off to college present, along with a terry cloth robe and a roll of quarters for laundry.  At age 35 my 9th and final consultant asked me to consider the opportunity!  I evaded her skillfully for 9 months and cancelled on her 7 times as a guest - always at the last minute.  I will celebrate 3 years with Mary Kay on September 13th!  I have been a director since August of 1998.  I began my business for personal use.  I started with a Sapphire Star Order because I wanted the ladder pin.

I hold an undergraduate degree in Biology and Chemistry and a Masters in Early Childhood Education.  I wore a tank top, shorts, no makeup and Teva sandals to the first unit meeting I attended as a guest (I came right from working at the preschool - it WAS my business attire!).  I came because Kim told me I would get a gold chain for being a customer that had spent over $100 with her. (I'm not at ALL recognition oriented. . . .).

I caught the vision in a Pacesetters class held by Lisa Anne, in January of 1997. By November of that year I had left my full time job at a non-profit child care agency. Six months later, in April of 1998, I earned the use of the Grand Am.  In June 1998 I finished Court of Sales and in August 1998 we debuted as a unit.

The flexibility has been so important this past year - in February, my Father, who lives in suburban Detroit, suffered a massive stroke - my Mother has needed help and I have been able to be there - every three weeks - to help out and give moral support.  It allows me to schedule time to have regular phone conversations with my Dad each week, which can sometimes take over an hour because his speech and memory have been so affected.  I am able to keep business rolling in Detroit because of our no territories policy by looking up old high school friends, meeting my parents neighbors and warm chattering nice women in restaurants and stores (not to mention the customers my Father procured for me from his hospital bed by suggesting to a few of his nurses that they would be great models in my portfolio and communicated without benefit of speech!)

A few time savers for me:

Home:

Lay out your clothes the night before

Have a specific place you ALWAYS put your keys (a bowl by the door, a hook near the door)

Office:

Pack applicators, cotton balls, a headband, a pen, a look card and 2 washcloths in a zip lock sandwich bag.  Have a lot made up ahead of time so you just grab the number you need for a class.

Get a system for managing paper - I recently started using a new system and it is working SO WELL for me. I have always had a problem with managing all the different types, sizes and volume of paper coming at me each day.  Profile cards, business cards, sales tickets, charge slips, survey cards, warm chatters, Women of the 90's profiles, RRRRGH!   Transferring them to lists was added time and often I forgot to write a key piece of information that would help me remember who the person was!

My friend Barb Stormann, a wonderful woman and consultant in the Betsy Eicher unit in Cincinnati,OH  helped me set up a SYSTEM!  I now have a portable hanging file box with 4 sections of 7 colored hanging folders (one color for each week).  In the folders, I have put manila file folders labeled 1 - 31, for the days of the week.  This thing goes with me EVERYWHERE now!  Paper now gets processed into a folder each day!  In the morning, I take out the folder, prioritize the papers (book, coach, sell, recruit, pay, file, pitch) and begin my day.  If something needs to be followed up with again, it gets dropped in the appropriate day later in the week!  At the end of the day, all the paper has to go somewhere and the folder must be emptied.  Then if something needs to be done a month from then, it can go back into the same folder.  On days that something always gets done (i.e.: pay rent, start producing newsletter, ) that gets written in red on the outside of the folder, so I know that I have to gather the things to get the task done.

It started as an office management system, but I use it for my whole life of paper - bills and everything and it has reduced my stress by about 1000%!  I actually know that the little piece of paper with so and so's name on it actually was purposefully PUT somewhere instead of shoved in a pocket, purse or tote bag.  After classes, I drop new basic customers into the folder for two days later.  When I am stuck in traffic, I can pull the folder and make calls on my cellular phone, or carry a folder with me into a doctor or dentist appointment - or any appointment where there may be a delay and feel productive.  I drop stamps and postcards in too.  My unit list and a current client list are tucked in the lid. I have also started to actually USE the call back date option in my computer software for my clients when I talk to them on the phone and there is not a paper in front of me to file because their file is in the computer.  Every morning I can print my call backs for the day and add it to the file!

Sorry this is so long - it may not even be appropriate because a visual description would possibly be more helpful - but it has been such a breakthrough for me!  I hope it works for someone else too!

Jill

When there's work to be done, turn up your sleeves, not your nose.