TWO LINES– ONE CONCLUSION…the funky 1980s New Wave band, Pet Shop Boys have a line in one of their songs that says… “Just when you least expect it… (you get) what you least expect”. It refers to the unpredictability of life. A much more serious source offers the same conclusion. Longtime NCAA football coach Steve Belichick arrives at the same place when he says, “There is only one guarantee… no matter how things are going, good or bad… they will change soon”. Two very different sources, one result. Not surprisingly, the Business of Sales is very similar. Here’s what we know for sure:
No matter what is going on your business right now, you can expect that some things will change very soon.
This reality is not good news… nor is it bad news… it is just the simple realization that all Salespeople need to be prepared for the inevitability of “things not being the same tomorrow as they are today”. It is not uncommon for someone in Sales to ask me, “My business isn’t the same any more. Things don’t happen the way they used to. How do I get things back to normal?” The reality is…whatever is going on right now is normal! The solution is for you to be prepared to change.
Here is your ACTION STEP… executive adviser Dan Sullivan simplifies it for all of us. He says that successfully dealing with change boils down to “constantly revising your Strategies and Systems to accommodate the inevitability of these changes”. Sullivan goes on to explain that we need to ever be conscious of the necessity to accept this mantra:
The Strategies & Systems that got you what you have today are probably not the same Strategies & Systems that will get you where you want to go to next.
So what to do? Always be looking at ways to improve the way you do things. There are a multitude of Systems that need to be in place for every successful Sales Business. Here are the three main Systems you need to constantly be revising and improving upon:
1. Your Lead Generation System – are you developing new ways to generate leads on an ongoing basis?
2. Your Time Management System – are you constantly revisiting how well you balance your time between revenue producing activities and administrvia?
3. Your Mindset/Attitude System – how effectively are you “refilling your tank” mentally to keep up with the pressures of commissioned Sales?
The world will always be changing and business will always be changing. In order for you to keep up and grow your business, it is important that you first accept the “inevitability of changing circumstances”. Secondly, you must always be looking for ways to enhance the way you are doing things. Take some time at least every 90 days to sit down and review how you are handling the above three Systems. By doing so you will never have to make drastic changes! Subtle tweaking is always easier to implement than the alternative. Enhance your approach to your Sales Business on an ongoing basis and you will always be successful. Make it easy on yourself. NO Excuses.