Do you work hard?
It’s a simple question but one that can be deceiving.
But before you read further close your eyes and ask yourself that question: Do I work hard?
Got your answer? Good.
Well let me ask you one more question; are you making the kind of sales you deserve for the level of work that you do?
I’m asking these questions to point out a very common misperception; and that is if you work hard you will get lots of sales and all the “moolah” you deserve.
However, nothing could be further from the truth.
In fact…
Hard Work Means Nothing!
And this is absolutely the truth in sales and business. Hard to believe but let me explain it with a story.
Imagine you are on a small boat out on the ocean and it’s starting to sink. The boat is filling up with water at a fairly fast rate. On this boat you happen to have two friends.
Both of these friends don’t want to sink anymore than you do so they get to work to keep the small boat afloat.
Your first friend grabs his coffee cup and frantically starts scooping water out of the boat. He is working very hard to save your vessel and you can see he is putting a lot of effort and strain into his plan.
Your second friend sees this and just rolls his eyes. He knows that they’ll never be able to scoop out enough water fast enough to stay afloat. So he sits down and thinks about what to do.
Meanwhile your first friend is still at it with his coffee cup throwing the water over the side of the boat. Just as he is about to pass out from exhaustion he looks at your second friend and is shocked at his apparent “laziness.”
After a couple minutes friend number two stands up, grabs a pack of gum and starts chewing. He chews for a couple minutes until he has a big wad of sticky gum. He then reaches under the water and wedges the gum into the hole where all the water is spewing into the boat.
The leak is stopped, the boat stops sinking and you are all saved!
Now ask yourself; which friend was more VALUALBE to you in that situation?
Was it the hard worker friend, or the friend that got RESULTS and saved your hide from drowning?
In sales we don’t get paid for activity. We get paid for making sales.
The friend with the coffee cup could be seen as your average cold caller. Making cold call after cold call franticly trying to make a sale and seeing no progress. I’ve been there my friend and let me tell you it’s not easy work!
The second friend doesn’t work very hard (at least he doesn’t seem to) but he is far more valuable than the first. He doesn’t just do mindless activity hoping something will work out. He has a plan.
Do you have a plan?
If you are working harder than you’d like and you’re not making the sales you know you could be, then it’s time to start doing something different, anything different!
It’s Time to Sharpen Your Saw
Stephen Covey uses this analogy that makes very important point: “Suppose you were to come upon someone in the woods working feverishly to saw down a tree.
‘What are you doing?’ you ask.
‘Can’t you see?’ comes the impatient reply. ‘I’m sawing down this tree.’
‘You look exhausted!’ you exclaim.
‘How long have you been at it?’
‘Over five hours,’ he returns, ‘and I’m beat! This is hard work.’
‘Well, why don’t you take a break for a few minutes and sharpen that saw?’ you inquire. ‘I’m sure it would go a lot faster.’
‘I don’t have time to sharpen the saw,’ the man says emphatically. ‘I’m too busy sawing!’
So my one tip for you is to take a time out from your sales activity and sharpen your saw.
This could be anything from improving your selling skills, reading a book on sales, taking a class, talking to successful people in your industry, formulating a system to improve your sales, etc.
You need to improve your skills and change how you do things instead of just doing the same thing over and over again getting nothing but the same mediocre results.
So get to it, sharpen your saw!
Until next time friends…
Tyler
http://www.coldcallcrusher.com/thesystem.html
P.S. If you want a plan that has already been thought out for you in a step-by-step system then go to http://www.coldcallcrusher.com/thesystem.html right now. You can get the Cold Call Crusher system right now for free for 30 days! No more cold calling and lots more sales: http://www.coldcallcrusher.com/thesystem.html
