With six weeks to go in 2009, this week is all about A – Accountability, activity, and action!
The challenge of the past two weeks was to:
- Take a hard look at where you are and answer questions that helped you identify and diagnose potential roadblocks.
- Set specific targets and plans for reaching them.
Today, we’ll start with Accountability. Who is responsible for your success? You! Don’t like where you are? Change it! Don’t like your results? Do something different! Want more sales? Ramp up your activity!
Where is victim thinking, procrastination or blame going to take you? NO WHERE! What will move you? Activity and action!
Activity – identify the activities (looking at your plan for your goals is a good place to start) that you need to take Today. List them out – prioritize them. Whether you do this on paper on electronically is up to. Personally, I love the pen to paper crossing off items as I complete them. You have to find what works best for you. The challenge is to not make this complicated and a time waster.
I had a colleague who used to spend hours putting together her lists. First she wrote them on paper. Then she transferred them into Word. And finally transferred them to Excel to be able to calculate dates and dollars. The result? Hours of work on a pretty list and no action! She has since moved out of sales.
Action – Just Do it! It’s not just a Nike motto – it will get you where you need to be. Look at your list of activities. Does it look overwhelming? Well, the list won’t get any shorter without you taking action and crossing off items. Where to start?
- Select the action on your list that you MOST dread doing today. Make that #2.
- Select an easy, just a few minutes items and make that #1.
- The action you are excited about and can’t wait to get to? Make that #3.
You can repeat this process over and over today. What it does is allow to knock something quickly out of the way. Then by doing what you dread doing next, you feel better and don’t waste energy with avoiding it – and it builds your enthusiasm for the 3rd thing.
Studies show that prospecting (and exercise) habits are more productive and are stuck to longer when they are done early in the day. The later they are “scheduled” the more that can get in the way.
So, this is the easiest tip on our countdown – and the three As – repeated every day this week will get you further along!
Okay – what do you think? Are you going to focus on Accountability, Activity and Action? What is the thing you dread most? After you complete it – leave a comment here for us all to celebrate with you that it is done. Or send me an email at nancy@salesproinsider.com – I’ll virtually celebrate with you!
Now I’m off to do something I dread…create flipcharts for my sales workshop this afternoon.. If I would have done them on Friday, I wouldn’t have had that looming over my head all weekend!
