What ROI can I expect from that? It’s a valid question in many buyer’s minds as we discuss products and services. And many of us know the ROI – the return on investment – and can communicate it well.
And yet I wonder, have you every thought about YOUR personal ROE? Your Return on Efforts?
What do you yield from your personal efforts which includes your:
- time
- energy
- engagement and
- use of resources and relationships
What you “spend” or use on these efforts should return something positive to you or it’s time to re-allocate them to activities and outcomes that do.
For example, I had a prospect that demanded a lot of my efforts. He scheduled meetings and we spent time outlining his situation, he asked me to summarize and make some recommendations. Then for our next meeting, he invited the President to “review” the recommendations he requested be sent in advance. He and the President liked the recommendations but wanted me to outline what would follow implementing them.
At our third meeting, it was obvious that they had taken the first recommendations and implemented them internally and they were looking for me to outline their next strategy. That was it…it was obvious they wanted free consulting and didn’t care that I was investing a lot of effort to produce it.
Instead of sending them MORE recommendations, I left a voice mail that “While I appreciated the time with them, it seemed there were more of a DIY group and that I wasn’t going to be a good fit for them. Think I heard from them again? Nope! Think I made a good decision to stop my efforts as there was not going to be a return? Yes!
Our efforts are what we have control of, our efforts are “ours” to own, manage and utilize effectively.
At the beginning of each day think about where you want to spend your efforts. Then direct your time, energy, engagement and resources accordingly Your positive ROE will yield you better results, less stress, and I’m certain more enjoyment in your work.
Your turn: What do you do to ensure your ROE is positive?
