Become Process Driven
by
Keith Rosen, MCC
Word Count: 1060
Are you hitting your numbers? How many follow-up calls did you make
today? How much good volume did you book this month? How many leads
did you run this week?
These questions are relentlessly driven into our heads and for good reason.
Like many sales professionals, there’s often pressure to reach quota or a
certain level of acceptable performance. While having a monthly sales goal
keeps your eye on the prize and your focus on the end result, it may actually
do more harm than good.
I often hear salespeople say, “Results aren’t showing up fast enough.” At the
end of each selling month, frustration and stress/overwhelm run rampant as
salespeople scramble to do their best to close sales and meet their numbers.
If selling is transference of feeling, imagine the feeling that you’re
transferring to your prospects? The stress of having to close more sales and
the anxiety you’re feeling inadvertently puts undue pressure on every
prospect you speak with, fostering an unhealthy relationship from the start.
The irony is, this constant push to reach sales numbers keeps you hooked on
the goal, diverting your efforts away from refining the selling process needed
to generate more business. The quandary then becomes, “I’m too busy to
work on my process. I have numbers to meet!”
Consider this paradox; the result is the process. In other words, what if
you shifted most of your attention away from your goal or the end result and
onto the process?
After all, what's the point of eating a bowl of chocolate ice cream; to get to
the end or to savor every bite? How about the goal of a self-care or an
exercise regimen? Unless you're in it to compete professionally, it’s to
maintain a level of health, vitality and personal satisfaction.
The same holds true for measuring productivity, maintaining your peace of
mind and experiencing a sense of achievement at the end of each day.
After all, you don't do the result; you execute the process, which produces
the result as a natural byproduct of your efforts. That's the paradox. By
honoring the process, you can enjoy the benefit of knowing that you will
attain your goals, since it’s the process that will get you what you want.
(Imagine building a house without a blueprint!)
To generate better results, you’re either changing what you do or changing
how you think. To continually exceed your sales goals and better manage
your mindset, change your thinking to become process driven rather
than result driven.
Ask yourself, "Do I have a (sales, prospecting, follow up, time management,
customer service) process in place that I can trust?" When you look at your
daily schedule, does it outline the specific and measurable tasks and
activities you need to engage in that will move you towards your goal?
Chances are, salespeople who are solely focused on the end result don’t
have a process they have faith in. As such, they concentrate more on trying
to control the outcome; pushing for what they want rather than managing
their process. After all, you can't trust and manage the process if you don't
have a process in place to do so!
Trying to achieve more without a process to guide you would be equivalent
to driving from New York to California without a roadmap while wearing a
blindfold. Not only can it be stressful but you're bound to wind up
somewhere else other than your intended destination.
Schedule a time with yourself to develop your process for attaining each goal
or task that needs completing so that you can see the path you will be
traveling on. Look back on the successful sales you’ve made as a starting
point for developing your process.
For example, if you’re looking to generate a certain number of sales each
month, what activities do you need to engage in on a daily basis to do so?
What skills or tools need further development? (Ex: Introductory cover
letter/ email + prospecting and voice mail approach/template + frequency of
calls/follow up = process driven.)
Once you have outlined a path and a success formula to follow (X # of calls
produces X # of prospects which produces X # of sales), allow the doing or
the process to be the reward and where the pleasure resides, not just the
end result. This way, you can be responsible for your future goals without
having to worry about them. If you continue your quest with your eyes
focused on the finish line, you'll miss out on the journey. Therefore, be
careful not to hook yourself onto the future so that you can enjoy the
process of reaching your goals today.
Knowing when enough is enough each day and the specific activities you
need to engage in provides you with the freedom to trust the process you’ve
put in place. After all, there's always more to do. There's always more that
can be done at the office, at your home or in your life; another call that can
be made or another email that can be read.
Exceeding your monthly sales quota will be the result of the cumulative
efforts you make and the activities you engage in every day. When you’re
mindful of the process, you now have the opportunity to recognize and
celebrate your accomplishments on a daily basis (even the little ones) rather
than pushing for or waiting until the "End." (And when does that happen?)
Keith Rosen, President of Profit Builders, is the executive sales coach that
top salespeople and managers call first. An engaging speaker award winning
columnist and Master Certified Coach, Keith is one of the foremost
authorities on assisting people to achieve positive, measurable change. Keith
has written several best sellers including, Time Management for Sales
Professionals and Coaching Salespeople Into Sales Champions. Inc.
magazine and Fast Company named Keith one of the five most respected
and influential executive coaches in the country. Keith also sits on the
advisory board for several technology companies. Keith is a frequent
contributor for Selling Power Live, CBSNews.com, Sales and Marketing
Management and has been appointed as the Expert Sales Advisor for
AllBusiness.com. He's been featured in Entrepreneur, Inc., Fortune,
TheStreet.com, Hoovers.com, The New York Times and The Wall Street
Journal. © 2008, Keith Rosen. All rights reserved. For information contact
FrogPond at 800.704.FROG(3764) or email susie@FrogPond.com;
http://www.FrogPond.com.