Growth Dynamics Get Down

Sleep has been a challenge over the last few weeks. I go to bed too early or don’t get enough exercise as I shelter in place. I can’t figure it out, but I know I keep waking up way earlier than I need or want to lately. The best place for me to deal with this insomnia is in our hot tub, gazing into the darkness of early morning of the brightening of a new day.

The message will be short today as we look forward to brighter days and a return to the normal lives we left behind a couple of weeks ago.

I knew if I looked hard enough, I could find a valuable gift in this pandemic reality that has enveloped us all. It wasn’t that obvious in the first couple of days or weeks, but it appeared when I allowed myself to let it take shape in my mind.

If you haven’t spent some time over the last few weeks feeling those emotions, you must be some sort of alien. I admit that in these hours when I’m sitting in my new office (bedroom overstuffed chair) there are moments when fear and anger creep from my subconscious mind to full awareness as I consider what this pandemic is doing to my life, my business, my future and my entire world. I suspect you’ve experienced the same thing, at least I hope you have.

Self-preservation is a strong motivator, particularly when the environment seems to be less safe and accommodating. As Maslow indicates in his Hierarchy of Needs, the Physiological is the most basic. At our core we are creatures that want our personal needs met before thinking about the needs of others. When we find ourselves threatened our instincts are to look out for number one first and foremost from both a logical and emotional perspective.

Your attitude is your compass to the future. Imagine if you were one of Christopher Columbus’ three small ships heading off to find the New World over 500 years ago. That leap of faith is amazing when you consider the common belief that the world was flat, and certain death awaited anyone that challenged that paradigm by sailing in search of an unknown destination. Certainly, some of those sailors had moments of doubt as the days slipped by and there was no land in sight. “When will this folly end and our feet will be on terra firma again?” had to be a common question asked in hushed tones.

Yes, I’d much rather not be typing this post, but I can’t worry about what I cannot not change or control. Working from home is not nearly as engaging as standing in front of room of salespeople or even responding electronically to requests for coaching. And making sales calls on people that don’t know when their sales teams will be back in the marketplace feels a bit peculiar to say the least. Two weeks ago, few people thought this is the world we’d be working in today, but here we are.

Today we are all facing a challenge that two weeks ago seemed as likely as pigs flying. Yet, here we are facing a sales challenge you won’t find talked about in any sales training manuals or motivational seminars. Essentially, the world has shut down for almost everyone, and none of us can truly say, with any certainty, when it will reopen. With that reality staring us in the face I thought I’d take some time this evening and make some suggestions about how to survive the challenges in front of all salespeople. Below you will find a few ideas for each of the three points of our MAP to Success: Mindset, Activity and Process.

Prospecting is the lifeblood of sales success. Most people that have made it past their first 12-24 months of sales realize this basic fact. Without prospecting there is no selling to be done, period. When you haven’t got a prospect to talk to you are dead in the water, maybe staring at the phone hoping it will ring or working to craft the silver bullet email blast that generates tons of inquiries. In my 40 plus years of selling I haven’t seen either of those strategies produce consistent results for anyone. But I have seen some people that are committed prospectors make one mistake over and over, failing to realize that prospecting and selling are distinctly different parts of a successful business development process.

At 35, Rachel built a nice career for herself, and she was enjoying the benefits of that success. There was a nice house in an upscale neighborhood, the vacations in all the places she ever dreamed about and a luxury set of wheels sitting in the driveway; all of it earned through hard work and commitment to Rachel’s goals. Her life looked like the epitome of success, and Rachel was very proud of it all. There was, however, one thing Rachel didn’t have, and it seemed the more successful she became the less of this one thing she had at her disposal. Rachel hated to admit it, but all the success cost her time to enjoy her life with friends and family. To Rachel, it became obvious that success had a price and she wasn’t sure it was worth it to raise the bar and experience even more of it. She found herself admitting that being more successful just meant giving up most of what was left of her personal life.