Do the little things that you don’t want to do every day. Your ability to overcome little discomforts is what will help you succeed. Don’t look to do the easy things. Look to do the hard things consistently that when focused on will help you yield the results you are looking for.
You know what those things are. They are putting the marketing systems in place that you’ve been thinking about for several months. They are talking with more prospects and lost clients and finding out why you didn’t make a sale, even if the conversation is a hard one.
Jeff Shore makes this point in his book Be Bold and Win the Sale: “Discomfort is as normal as the sunrise. Discomfort is going to happen in life, and even more so in the life of a sales professional. How we respond is what makes the difference. The fact is that the sales process can be seen as a series of uncomfortable moments:
- The [prospect] who won’t engage during a sales presentation
- The [prospect] who won’t answer the phone when you call repeatedly
- The [prospect] who is cold and seems bothered by your presentation
- The [prospect] who offers only vague answers to your questions
- The [prospect] who leads off with a price/terms attack
- The [prospect] who starts by addressing a quality concern, just to hammer your price
- The [prospect] who raises a tough objection right out of the gate.
- The point when you know that you need to ask a [prospect] to buy, but it just doesn’t ‘feel right’
“Every single salesperson will face these moments as a routine part of her job. They are inevitable. Top performers find success not because they don’t feel discomfort, but because they plan for it and are equipped to beat it.”
He continues: “Researchers at the Behavioral Sciences Research Press in Dallas, Texas, study sales professionals from different industries around the globe and administer an assessment (called the SPQ*GOLD®) to measure various forms of Sales Call Reluctance. One such category of reluctance is called Yielder, and it measures the tendency to avoid the discomfort of bringing displeasure to others. For example, if a voice in my head is telling me that it’s time to ask for the sale, but a countering voice warns against offending the prospect, the Yielder in me will back down and find a more comfortable path: “Here’s my card; call me if you have any questions.’
“(If you have, at this point, become keenly aware of your own addiction to comfort, I don’t want you thinking that I have cast you as a loser who ought to find another line of work. There is a relatively simple physiological foundation for this discussion, and we are simply clarifying the plan before we begin the attack on the comfort monster.)
“Being faced with discomfort sets off a primitive mechanism in your brain that demands response (it’s a response of your choosing, but we’ll get to that later on). To understand this process, simply go back to Psych 101 and recall the number one purpose of our brains. Do you remember what it is? Fundamentally, our brains exist to keep us alive. The brain works as a protective mechanism, constantly sensing threats and directing evasive action…Discomforts, even sales discomforts, fall in to this ‘response to fear’ category. Our brains are wired to understand fear as a threat and act accordingly, with little effort on our part. While our higher reasoning skills allow us to discern the difference between the threat of the saber-toothed tiger attacking us and the comparatively mild discomfort of dealing with a nonresponsive [prospect or client], the primitive part of our brain registers both situations as threats, thus triggering what psychologists call the ‘flight instinct.’ This instinct is one of the voices that compel us to flee from a threat…any threat! No wonder the Dallas researchers came up with ‘Yielder.’
He concludes with this thought: “Giving in to our discomfort is a very common malady because discomfort is a reality that we all live with on a day-to-day basis. The question here is not whether we will face uncomfortable situations, but how we will respond in these situations. This phenomenon affects all of us in different ways and to different degrees, and we all have different responses, but there is no one who is fully immune to it. If you want to assess you own sales anxiety issues, you can do so by mentally placing yourself in uncomfortable situations and considering your actions more than your attitude.”—pp. 8-10
So, how do you respond in the following situations:
- A prospect gives a surface objection and doesn’t seem to want to engage in a meaningful discussion about what he or she really wants to accomplish that you or your product / service could help solve. It is easiest to stop selling and accept the excuse.
- A prospect says he or she can’t pay over a certain amount for your services. You don’t want to be an enemy so instead of explaining why your services cost what they do, you just accept the self-imposed budget limitation and believe that they won’t allow you help them with their specific challenge because it’s easier that way.
- A prospect won’t answer questions. He or she seems uncomfortable and say they just want to shop around with other providers of your product or service, so you just keep quiet and let them shop without your guidance. It’s easier that way.
- It’s time to ask for the sale, but it doesn’t feel right. You decide to wait for the prospect to ask you to send the agreement to start working with you because it’s easier that way. [The problem is that the prospect rarely, if ever, will ask you to send the contract for them to sign without prompting and persuasion on your part.]
- You need to make follow up calls to move your prospects forward to the next step. You decide to update your Facebook page instead because it’s easier that way.
Shore says: “Of course, we never actually get to the part that says, ‘It’s easier that way’; that sentence remains unspoken. But the deep paradigm of yielding to discomfort cannot be denied; the paradigm says, ‘I prefer to do things the easiest way possible.”—Be Bold and Win the Sale, p. 11.
Gino Wickman explains in his book Traction that most businesses have too many processes and aren’t as focused as they should be on the ones that really matter. In other words, most business owners spin their wheels without really getting traction and moving forward. He makes this statement in the book:
“Due to fear and lack of discipline, the Traction Component is typically most organizations’ weakest link. The inability to make a business vision a reality is epidemic. Consider it a new take on an old quote: vision without traction is merely hallucination.”
He continues: “Gaining traction requires two disciplines. First, everyone in the organization should have Rocks, which are clear 90-day priorities designed to keep them focused on what is most important. The second discipline requires implementing what is called a Meeting Pulse at all levels in the organization, which will keep everyone focused, aligned, and in communication.” –p. 8.
Wickman explains what he means by the concept of rocks or priorities. He says:
“Your company will have Rocks, each member of your leadership team will have rocks, and your employees will also have Rocks. The reasons to limit Rocks to three to seven (preferably closer to three) is that you’re going to break the organization of the habit of trying to focus on everything at once. It simply can’t be done. By limiting priorities, you can focus on what is most important. With the increased intensity of focusing on a limited number of Rocks, your people will accomplish more. Remember the old saying: When everything is important, nothing is important. The way you move the company forward is one 90-day period at a time….By the way, it doesn’t matter what you call these priorities; however, most companies really like calling them Rocks. I learned the term from Verne Harnish, the author of Mastering the Rockefeller Habits. Verne got it from an analogy in Stephen Covey’s book First Things First. Picture a glass cylinder set on a table. Next to the cylinder are rocks, gravel, and, and a glass of water. Imagine the glass cylinder as all of the time you have in a day. The rocks are your main priorities, the gravel represents your day-to-day responsibilities, the sand represents interruptions, and the water is everything else that you get hit with during your workday. If you, as most people do, pour the water in first, the sand in second, the gravel in third, and the rocks last, what happens? Those big priorities won’t fit inside the glass cylinder. That’s your typical day.”
He continues: “What happens if you do the reverse? Work on the big stuff first: Put the rocks in. Next come the day-to-day responsibilities: Add the gravel. Now dump in the sand, all those interruptions. Finally, pour the water in. Everything fits in the glass cylinder perfectly; everything fits in your day perfectly. The bottom line is that you need to work on the biggest priorities—your Rocks—first. Everything else will fall into place. Less is always better, and a few priorities are better than many. Do less, accomplish more. Most organizations start out the year with a huge ball of priorities and get very little done by the end of the year. By coming up with Rocks every quarter, you create a 90-Day world. The process works like this: Your team meets for a full day every 90 days. You review your vision, and then determine what the Rocks are for the organization for the next 90-day period to keep you on track for your vision.” –pp. 170-171.
This philosophy is really important because most entrepreneurs can’t see farther than ninety days. If you have a great vision meeting and then just expect that you or any member of your team will fulfill every part of it without any follow up, you are in for some great disappointment. You need focus and help to stay on track with stated priorities in order to avoid the distractions that will unavoidably come. On top of that, there are some obstacles that will come up that you or others on your team may not know how to handle properly. When people are overwhelmed, they usually go back to what they were doing before and forget about the experiences they had previously. If you are going to get traction with your goals, this approach is a good one to study and implement in your business. I would highly recommend you identify your Rocks (or priorities) and execute them within this context.
In the midst of each quarter, it is particularly important for you to assess what you’ve done and then reassess where you are going in the next ninety days. Doing this will help you stay on track better than anything else.
Wickman makes this point about the importance of solving your problems as they arise. He says:
“[Have] the discipline to face and solve your organization’s issues as they arise. When the vision is clear, the people are in place, and you’re managing data, you will inevitably find out what’s holding you back. Successful companies solve their issues. They don’t let them linger for weeks, months, and years at a time. Problems are like mushrooms: When it’s dark and rainy, they multiply. Under bright light, they diminish. In an organization where there is nowhere to hide, the problems are easily eliminated.”
He continues:
“It’s human nature to put off making a hard decision. If given the option, most people would prefer not to address an issue and hope that it goes away on its own. This reluctance to act can be a drag on growth and is extremely frustrating to watch. As Napoleon Bonaparte said, ‘Nothing is more difficult and therefore more precious than to be able to decide.’” –p. 131.
If you’ve started off this year exactly the same way you did last year, you’ll likely generate similar results. When a new year begins, it is easy to get caught up very quickly with all that is happening because it gets so busy so quickly. As I’m writing this, we are a third of the way through this year. Unfortunately, being busy can also lull you into a sense of security that can lead you into a slow decline due to complacency. If you haven’t already planned and articulated your marketing calendar and are actively working to generate leads, you’re already a little behind the eight ball. It is much better to be consistently working toward better solutions with a well-articulated plan than trying to play catch up all year long.
Because it is so easy to fall into this trap, I’ve identified five ways you can work consistently on the improvement of your business and avoid the lure of complacency and decline.
1) Integrate new ideas into your proven marketing successes. Commit to spend the time to work on your business and not just in it.
Too many business owners don’t take the time to work on their marketing and their business. They are caught up working in their business and as a result take little time to think about how to really attract new prospects to do business with them. Resolve that you are going to break out of this stagnant cycle and integrate new ideas into what is working to get more sales and agreements signed every week.
2) Reward employees who point out problems that you weren’t aware even existed.
Look for new offerings to owners at the recommendation of others around you. If your clients or prospective clients are asking for services, quantify the number of people who ask for specific things and consider putting together programs to offer those services and solutions. Create an environment where you are constantly innovating. You’ll find that more ideas are implemented because of your attention to improvement and listening to what others around you are saying. Remember, the things that get rewarded get done.
3) Ask for help when you don’t know what to do. There are others who are farther along on the path you wish to pursue who can help you if you will ask and act on what you learn. When you act, you show your coach that you are willing to do whatever it takes to get the results you seek.
4) Set target and optimal goals. If you are feeling really ambitious, set optimal plus goals that really stretch you and your team.
It is impossible to hit a target you can’t see, yet many entrepreneurs try to do just that without setting higher goals for themselves from year to year. The only way performance will improve is if you start measuring everything and truly caring about what you find. You’ve got to focus on the critical success factors that will make a difference, but improving your performance won’t happen if you don’t focus on it.
5) Make incremental improvements week in and week out. Steadiness will always win over flash in the pan implementation followed by long periods of inactivity.
What are some things you could do that would help your prospects and clients who are already doing business with you feel important and special? Do your clients feel that they are getting preferential treatment from you?
The way you answer those questions reveals a lot about you as a leader. Be steady in your improvements. It is easy to get overwhelmed in any business. Choose what battles you will focus on and that you will win.
Here are two areas where you should focus on making incremental improvements this month:
- Who you sell to: Don’t waste time attracting clients that are bad for your business. Think of who your best clients are: they never complain about the price of your services, they think your service and quality is better than your competitors, and they were referred to you by others who also do business with you. Focus on where these customers came from and then advertise more in those areas and advertise less in the areas where you got problem clients.
- Start calling one client who bought from you every day and make this a habit. Have a goal to call at least five clients a week at a minimum. By doing this, you will find out so much from your customers and will find out the little things you may have missed. You will also learn a lot from clients who maybe aren’t happy with your service as well. Pay attention to this and you can catch small situations and resolve them quickly before they became bigger issues. Start this habit now. I really like this statement by Bill Gates: “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”
It takes commitment to implement what I’ve just talked about. A great example of this kind of commitment is found in the goal that many have of losing weight each year. Someone who wants to lose weight may go out and buy books on how to lose weight. They may not even read the book, but the real problem is that they don’t really want to lose weight. They will always ignore the “how to” until the “want to” is strong enough. The diet doesn’t matter. It is the commitment to do it that does.
Author Steve Chandler is that: “People confuse courage with practice. It is a real misconception that we need courage. People believe that courage is needed. The most important thing is to take action first, even if you are afraid while you are doing. People ruin their lives by thinking that courage is the issue, when it really isn’t. It is action. You have to practice and do it and do it and do it and then you will get better at it.”
He continues: “What about someone who jumps out of a helicopter or plane at a training school? What is it they are afraid of: heights or jumping? It isn’t courage, because at first they push them out of plane the first several times. Once they jump out of the plane 40 times or more, they no longer are afraid of jumping. They have practiced so many times that they no longer need courage.
Action is what we need to commit to, not trying to muster up courage. All of your actions become your defining moments. Get back out and do what needs to be done in your business, even if you’ve made mistakes in the past. The more you practice and take action, the better your business will get and the better you will get.
Do the little things you don’t want to do everyday. The essence of what makes a diet work or an exercise routine work is hidden in this idea. Learn to overcome your feelings of discomfort when selling and help your clients feel comfortable around you and you’ll make the sale. Figure out where your area of focus should be and get it done.
