I see people spinning their wheels all the time and getting nowhere. They see the next shiny object and leave, once again. The worst thing is when you see someone who can’t stay focused on their goals. It usually means they don’t have one. It’s pretty simple to realize that if you don’t have a way to go and a compass handy, you can end up going in circles. Have you defined your goals? Came up with a mission statement? Does your company have its own mission statement? What is it about anyway?
If you’re a salesperson working for a business, take the time to figure out exactly how much you’ll need to make in sales each month to achieve your personal goals and care for your family. That will be your minimum. Then work it. How much commission do you get from each sale? If you add all of that up, how many sales on average would you have to make each month, each week, each day to get there? Once you’ve got the numbers down, how many actual customer contacts do you need to make each day to make that many sales? Then finally how many calls each day should you make to keep your pipeline full and make real contacts. In my experience as a sales manager over the years, I’ve seen that some of my best salespeople can make 80-100 real phone calls each day with at least 20 real customer contacts. A contact is where you actually talk to a customer and do something small to move the sale forward. Where are you in this? Are you willing every day to make the commitment that it will cost you to achieve your goals? I have prepared this short story to illustrate what smart work is all about. It’s an oldie but a goodie.
Tale of two lumberjacks
Two woodcutters were given axes and told to go into the forest to cut down trees. The first woodcutter found a tree and began to cut it down. He itched all day non-stop. The second woodcutter also did his share of chopping, but stopped from time to time during the day. He would walk away and then come back a few minutes later. The first woodcutter kept working.
By the end of the day, the second woodcutter had cut more wood than the first. The first was much more tired than the second. What happened?
The second lumberjack to take breaks went to sharpen his axe. The point is that they both had the same tool, but only one took the time to learn how to use it correctly. Work smart and not hard.
We all have the same tools. We have the same rules. Some of us learn to use our tools better than others. The playbook is not as important as the execution. Is your execution improving from the tools you have? Your ability to carry out the “execution” of the plan can make you better than your competition. It can give you the success you need.
