There are two things that I do at work every week that no one knows about, no one cares about, and if I didn’t do them, no one would be disappointed. I contact ten companies on my targeted list of prospects, and I spend at least one hour on professional development (for example, I’m currently working on becoming certified in Predictive Index). Between these two activities, I typically spend about three hours per week. Three hours that don’t impact our backlog for at least a year. Three hours that make me uncomfortable with new skills that I won’t master for months. Three hours that I could use every single week to get more pressing items done. But I don’t. I invest those three hours every single week on prospecting and learning – activities that won’t pay us dividends for months or years – because these activities are necessary for greatness.There has been enough information written about habits, proactive behavior, and time management over the last 30 years to fill two Internets, but most salespeople I know are stuck in mediocrity or “pretty goodness” because their actions are reactionary and impulsive. Their success is dependent on a few known customers and the hope that they’ll continue to need them, or perhaps on their company’s brand and demand for their deliverables. That’s scary, but that’s reality for most.
It’s not that salespeople don’t know how to be proactive or manage their time, it’s that they don’t do these things because they’re so afraid of striking out that they never hit a home run. Instead of building a pipeline of future business that will lead to that home run, they think “I can’t do that. I need to make sure that this project kick-off goes well, and then get this quote out to my customer right away.” That’s how I felt when I started Vector Firm. My clients were relying on me to get things done and I feared dropping the ball.
Then, one day while driving home to Orlando from Hilton Head, I realized something: If it’s important, it’ll get done. If it’s not important, then it might not get done, and that’s ok.
This belief is the foundation of why Vector Firm has grown to where it is today and will continue to grow: If it’s important, it’ll get done. If it’s not important, then it might not get done, and that’s ok. I no longer worry about failing – for the most part – because I know the important stuff will get done. I’ll make sure it gets done. And I accept that some unnecessary things won’t get done, and that’s ok … 99% of those things can be completed next week or next month.
When you believe that you’ll get the important things done, then you’ll take the time to do the proactive and strategic items that will propel you to greatness. However, if you don’t, then you’ll continue to live in a reactionary mode in which your success is dependent on everything else but yourself.
Try it. Spend an hour every morning doing something proactive and I bet that you’ll get just as much work done as you always have.
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