Quick notes to help you grow your business in less time with less effort. . . starting next week.
In this issue:
- Thoughts on Structure
- Being Human
- Random Stuff
Thoughts on Structure
- We get a lot from structure, especially when it comes to occupying our time. It's one of the reasons why we get something out of "work," the experts say.
- The problem with revenue growth processes is that we’re not machines. We’re human. Stop struggling with processes by letting go of the order, but keeping the structure. Start anywhere in the process, and go everywhere in the process. Be in the moment and respond accordingly.
- Structuring meetings lets you focus on your client. Try this: share a loose meeting outline with your client at the start of the meeting. I think you'll find it keeps both parties on track, allowing you to listen carefully, and follow up on tangents.
- Managers should take a minute to think about where the company's structure is either promoting, or hindering the sales process. Dealing with either generates opportunities.
Being Human - Business development structure
“A living cell requires energy not only for all its functions, but also for the maintenance of its structure." – Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, Hungarian biochemist
This morning I want to reflect on a fun call I had this week. Talking to the marketing director of a large law firm. She was quick to point out they were only top 400, still big in my book. We were talking about business development, specifically the efforts she's put in to make BD more effective at their firm.
I've done some projects with lawyers at law firms of various sizes and even did a series of talks about improving BD for a law association. In my mind there is a lot of work to be done in that area, but my talks and marketing efforts haven't led to much. Talking to this insider seemed like a good idea.
It was a great idea.
In listening to her describe the challenges of building a sales process in her law firm she convinced me it was less a lawyer-focused issue, and more the role of the firm. In her opinion, the structure of the firm (tools, support, training) had as much, or more, to do with an attorney's BD success. On top of that, she said, the busier the firm gets, the less time is prioritized for BD activity.
She's right, I thought. Like I wrote about in "The Sales Momentum Mindset," there are two big pieces that lead to building continuation momentum. First is inside us, getting our poop in a group, but second is the organization giving us a smooth track to run on. Getting leadership to prioritize sales activity in a big successful law firm isn't a given. Even if it is prioritized, investing in the structure to support BD activity isn't guaranteed.
This weekend, spare a thought for the structure around your selling activities. Time is a finite resource. If we don't prioritize spending part of it on finding new business, it may not happen.
Random Stuff
“I can't understand these chaps who go round American universities explaining how they write poems: It's like going round explaining how you sleep with your wife.”― Philip Larkin
I subscribe to a few newsletters. My favorite part of most of them is their links to other items on the internets. This morning, Austin Kleon's newsletter arranged a set of poems by British poet Philip Larkin to mark the change in seasons.
“The trees are coming into leaf,” “The mower stalled, twice…” and “I work all day, and get half-drunk at night.”
Clever arrangement. Each poem is great, but I find "The Mower" to be especially, special.
The Mower
By Philip Larkin
The mower stalled, twice; kneeling, I found
A hedgehog jammed up against the blades,
Killed. It had been in the long grass.
I had seen it before, and even fed it, once.
Now I had mauled its unobtrusive world
Unmendably. Burial was no help:
Next morning I got up and it did not.
The first day after a death, the new absence
Is always the same; we should be careful
Of each other, we should be kind
While there is still time.
Unmendably.
Ooh. Shivers.
Enjoy the weekend and be careful of each other.
