You can’t do any behavioral change in a vacuum. Okay maybe this is a little too global and not really on point. However I am reading about the sales process and how to create a system of sales activities to grow my business. Now that I have capacity I need to generate activity or some would call it income or business. That includes blogging and it includes making outbound calls to people who might bring me business or hire me directly. So having years of sales experience in what I call “digger” sales I should be really good at this, right?
Well, it appears that I am both the client and the coach here because I can see clearly that my problem starts with time management. Actually it might be my focus during what looks like workflow. That means when I should be writing or generating a new email blast, I am chatting with colleagues about work. Not really doing the work but talking about doing the work. It feels like work. Does it get me closer to bringing in new business? So… uh, no and well, hmmm. Tough reality when I know I’ve heard it come out of my mouth as a coach. The book says the difference between success and failure, not sure it was that dichotomous, is pig-headed discipline. Pig-headed discipline requires absolute diligence on creating the system and working the system. He says it takes six months to really make it the fabric of the company. I believe that it helps to have others check your work to see that it’s done. I remember when I used to be so focused and disciplined in the sales process. I was really successful and made a lot of money. So I know I have it in me. But that was a long time ago.
How can I make this fun? Fun? Really, it seemed like a great question when I asked my client. But now looking down my nose at it sure feels different.
How can I make the sales process fun? I know from the past it’s a numbers game. Talk to so many people and set so many appointments and teach people how to use my product and the rest just follows. Okay back to the fun part, how do I make this fun? Rewards? Yes, maybe. What about finding interesting people work with? I have worked with really fun clients whom I haven’t talked to in while. I’ll start there and see how they are progressing. That is fun for me
Here is what I’ve read and committed to do each day:
- At the end of each select the six most important things that need to be done tomorrow.
- Schedule email time and stick to that time.
- Spend 2.5 hours on building business.
- Pig-headed discipline to the process.
- Do the harder / more emotional / detailed work earlier in the morning when I am fresh.
All right this has already changed my attitude. The part about the vacuum is where friends and colleagues who are also avoiding doing things they don’t want to do will find me less available if I have that pig-headed discipline. But that’s for me to manage. Right? Since I’ve told you I’ve already started to manage it. You’ll keep me on task, right?
