You Can't Do It All
I want to be a great husband, a great father, a great friend, a great consultant, a great salesman, a great golfer, a great writer, a great drummer, and a great cook.
I want a great website, a great social media presence, a great reputation, a great client roster, and a great pipeline to go along with it.
I want to have a great big house, with a green lawn, a great garden, a great kitchen, a great wine cellar, a great library, a great workshop, and a small room with nothing in it but a comfortable chair and soundproof walls (a recent addition as I'm brainstorming this list).
I can go on, but the point is already illustrated. There are a lot of things that I want, but only so many I can have. There are a lot of things I want to do, but only so many I can get to. The paradox of choice can be debilitating, so it's important that we focus on what is most important, and be less attached to the stuff on the fringes.
You just can't do it all...
...at the same time
…There's a time and a place for everything.
I had to decide to give up playing competitive baseball when I got to college because I was going pro at something else. It just wasn't as important, but that didn't mean I loved it any less. Sometimes you have to delegate or even give up the things you love to do because they are not the highest value activities.
The part that's easier said than done is deciding what the highest value activities are. What's even more difficult is developing the discipline to do what needs to be done rather than what you just want to do.
You've only got so much bandwidth and so many things you can do with that bandwidth. What I've noticed is that when I try to do too many things at the same time, I get very little done (ever try to clean your entire house at once?). However, if I do one thing at a time, with a purpose, it doesn't take that long. Then it's time to work on something else, and then the next thing, and when you get done, you may even have a little bit of time left over.
So what are your most important things? Are you creating new opportunities in your pipeline? Are you working those opportunities through your process all the way to a logical end? Do you know what your next steps are in each sales cycle, and are you asking for them? As simple as these steps are, surprisingly few sales professionals are carrying them out.
Most people are getting carried away and distracted by things like social media, and their regular "milk run" visits to long-standing non-growable accounts, essentially avoiding any work that is uncomfortable even though it's the very lifeblood of their success.
When you tell yourself that you can do everything and that it's all important, you almost start to convince yourself that you have to try and do everything. That's when things really get out of whack and you take your eye off the ball. Sales get lost. Projects get missed. Businesses suffer.
Decide for yourself what your top 5 must-do activities are every week, and make sure they get planned and executed without fail. Then set aside time for your next five things (use your calendar), and then your next five. If there's still enough time to squeeze in a round of golf or happy hour on the patio with your friends, then go ahead and do it. You need to practice if you want to get your handicap down, and you also need to practice if you want to get your sales numbers up, but which are you going to prioritize?
What do you think? Join the conversation in the Rethink The Way You Sell Community.
Jeff Bajorek
Real. Authentic. Experience.
There’s a big difference between knowing how to sell and being able to. Jeff Bajorek spent over a decade in the field as a top performer. He’s been in your shoes. He knows what it will take. He can help you succeed.
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