QUESTION: I am an early morning person on the East Coast in the U.S. and I am just restarting on my national desk. Are there any ways to take advantage of the time zone difference other than making calls a little later? Ways to take advantage of voicemail or set me apart as memorable? – Brian, PA
ANSWER: I think that leaving voicemails is one way. I wonder if you are up that early, if the United Kingdom, is that a viable marketplace for you? They are five hours ahead of the East Coast. I imagine there is the same type of industry. Would it be of interest to you to establish a market in the U.K.?
I did a number of searches there, and it was just a lot of fun because it is different. You can get up at 5:00 in the morning and market. At 9:00 or 9:30 in the morning, you will have worked half of a day in Europe. At that point, you can take a break, and then do your domestic work.
When focusing on your domestic work, if you have direct dial numbers for people, especially hiring managers, or candidates, if they are at their desk or if they are a mobile number and you get a hold of them at 7:30 in the morning, they will talk.
I remember when I was calling C-level executives, and I would always befriend their executive assistant. If I could not get through, I would say:
Hey Mary, what is the best time to get a hold of Joe?
The executive assistant would usually respond:
You did not hear this from me, but Joe gets in at about quarter to 8:00 every morning, reads his Wall Street Journal, has his coffee. The office is quiet and any call he has goes directly through to his desk, and he usually picks up.
I am not a morning person, but after I heard that about this one guy if there were a bunch of C-levels, I came early to string together 15 or 20 calls to see if I could get a hold of a couple of these guys sitting at their desk.
Those are a couple of different options for you to work with as an early morning riser.
Another option, unrelated to just picking up the phone and call, has a personal self-development hour.
When I had my office, I used to get up around 7:00 and I could be in by 8:30. I made an intention to get up between 5:30 and 6:00 to give myself an extra hour and all I did for that hour was read. I think I read 30 books that year. It was amazing and truly inspiring. I have continued that with both reading and some information products I subscribe to, to help me better myself, that I take part in and I have on a calendar that I do early in the morning.
Those are a couple of good ideas. Great question. I appreciate it.
Photo by Ioana Tabarcea on Unsplash
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