Greg's Right FIT #427

Quick notes to help you grow your business in less time with less effort. . . sometime next week. 

In this issue: 

- Thoughts on Problem Solving
- Being Human
- Random Stuff

Thoughts on Problem Solving

• If we have a problem, it needs to be addressed. Problems don't get solved or go away by themselves. Procrastination leads to bigger problems and stress. Get to work on solving.
• Look for the cause of the problem. Don't look for blame. It's hard enough to get to the issue or event at the root of the problem without adding the possibility of retribution. 
• The nature of problems is that the cause happened in the past. Finding what changed and when it changed is the first step. Comparisons help you locate the source or event, like "What still works? How is that different?"
• When the cause of the problem is located you can fix it, or adapt to it. Sometimes the cost and effort to fix something is more than the cost and effort of just dealing with it. 

Being Human - YNWA

“Building and keeping momentum in a complex world is hard. When we acknowledge our dependence on support systems and surrender to belief in a higher power, it helps momentum."

An excerpt from my book, The Sales Momentum Mindset.

We’re not walking through life alone. There is a myth in sales of the swashbuckling entrepreneurial type riding alone in the frontier, sourcing new business, and conquering new markets, the Pale Rider of business development. It’s not true.

When I started in life insurance sales, I was encouraged to work with older and wiser salespeople. The price for collaborating with these elders was to share my commission check. This was explained to me as the fastest way to learn, but it seemed silly. Why would I give up a percentage of my earnings to some old guy who didn’t have to do the hard work? These opportunities were my relationships, my “lay-downs,” my bluebirds.

Looking back, it makes sense. Sure, I built my own momentum in the early days and months, but ran into trouble midway through year two. My progress came to a halt as I struggled with a few hairy situations with clients. Looking back, a grizzled veteran may have been able to help me navigate the situation. A veteran with a financial incentive to help me may have pushed me through the obstacles and helped my momentum, because my lay-downs and blue birds were anything but easy sales.

With these experiences in mind I want to talk about the next two elements affecting our personal momentum, Support Systems and Belief in a Higher Power.

I titled this subchapter YNWA. Those of you who are professional soccer fans may recognize it right away. It’s the acronym for “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” the Liverpool football club’s anthem. Modern music fans may have heard newer versions of the song. The reason I’m bringing it up is because of this lyric:

Walk on, walk on;
With hope in your heart; 
And you’ll never walk alone; 
You’ll never walk alone.

When it comes to keeping momentum, it helps to know you’re not walking alone. You’re not riding solo on the edge of civilization fighting for survival. It will be easier to build and maintain momentum when you have a strong support system, and belief in something bigger than yourself, like a higher power.

This is from Chapter 5: Give It Up to Get It—Support Systems and Belief in a Higher Power in "The Sales Momentum Mindset". For bulk copies for your team, contact me. Learn how a momentum-based sales transformation might help your organization. 

Random Stuff

“Writing something is almost as hard as making a table. With both you are working with reality, a material just as hard as wood. Both are full of tricks and techniques. Basically very little magic and a lot of hard work involved."—Gabriel García Márquez

I remind the sales teams they should present their proposals in person at best, via video/phone at worst. They shouldn't rely on their writing skills to do the selling. Of course, most of them will still email proposals. Such is the life of a consultant. I tell them "you are free to use or ignore my recommendations as you see fit," and they do. 

The reason I give this advice is that writing is tough to do well. Reading is even tougher. While you can't do anything to improve your prospect's ability to comprehend what they read, you can improve your writing. One way I work on my writing is to belong to a writing group. We meet once a month, share some writing, and comment on one another's efforts. The value comes after I read a piece. The group comments on the work and I sit silently. If they have questions about what it means or what the point is, they discuss it among themselves. The writer just sits and listens. 

It's great. 

It's like being a fly on the wall. Here's the kicker. For me, what my readers take from my writing is rarely exactly what I try to convey. Sometimes it's really close, but often the group takes my piece in a different direction than I intended. Most of the time, I like their interpretation better. 

It reminds me of a scene in the Rodney Dangerfield movie, "Back to School." He's an entrepreneur and outsources his schoolwork. Like writing papers. In one scene, we see Kurt Vonnegut arriving to do some homework for him. Later, Dangerfield gets scolded for not doing his own work and the professor tells him "Whoever *did* write this doesn't know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut!"

https://youtu.be/pDLzLUmtU3w

Still funny.

It's another reminder that communication is hard. Write your proposals. Hire great writers to help you. Make them as persuasive as you can, but deliver your proposals in person. In the flesh you can use all of your other communication tools in addition to the written word. Your words, inflection, non-verbals, and the whiteboard combine to make your proposal as persuasive as it can be. It's not foolproof, but it helps.