We live in a quick-fix, fast-solution, results-driven society where 24-hour news cycles and instant feedback rule our social lives. Read a book now and you become an expert who can teach the topic. Start a diet and, in 90 days, you will have the body of a super model.
The need for instant gratification prevents some salespeople from realizing incremental long-term success. That would be the equivalent of planting a rose, neglecting to nurture and feed the plant and still expecting the flowers to bloom.
Being average is similar to the neglected rose that never truly blossoms. Failure to receive the proper nutrients on a consistent basis stops the potential. The need for an immediate solution overrides the need of planting the seed in the first place.
Traditionally, top performers are relentless at performing the “mundane” steps on a consistent basis. They do the small things that, in the moment, seem to produce little-to-no results. Activities such as; make follow-up calls with meaningful and intelligent conversation, send the overdue email, create engaging video content, read regularly and improve product knowledge skills. These are incremental growth strategies and the solutions to failing sales.
Here are five “mundane” skills that, if practiced daily, will produce long-term success:
1. Care for your mind, body and spirit. Conditioning your spiritual health with your mental health will help you accomplish financial wealth. Good decisions are harder to make than bad decisions. If you make a decision, be sure it will produce the results you want.
2. Tend to your garden every day. Learn a new skill; implement a single good idea and practice the discipline of continuous improvement. As Malcolm Gladwell says, “Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.”
3. Create your flight plan. Determine where you want to go and map out the details to help get you there. What specific enhancements will you make to help you reach that destination?
4. Measure your performance. Leading indicators provide insight into the daily activities. Recognize, small trends indicate patterns before they become bigger trends. Leading indicators can prevent weaker performances from being anchored as bad habits. Understand the strategy to engage in the activities that produce the greatest results. Nothing is more important than knowing exactly what’s expected and how to achieve it. Make certain the expectations are clearly defined with tactical practicality.
5. The bridge to success is being built one brick at a time. To cross the bridge you xmust take the initial step towards your destination.
“Success means doing the best we can with what we have. Success is the doing, not the getting…in the trying, not the triumph. Success is a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in us, becoming all that we can be.” – Zig Ziglar