Do What Works

I have noticed for a long time, especially though over the past couple of years that as small business owners and salespeople, we have a tendency to continue to do things that don't work. And when I say they don't work, what I mean is they aren't getting us the results that we're looking for. One of the areas where I see this happen a lot is in the sales process. We go to networking events now that we're back out in the public realm. We'll go to networking events where we will engage in behaviors that don't get us what we're looking for. So, for example, there are people who will go networking with the goal of gaining a client. And yet they will leave without one. Do they stop and think to themselves. “Okay. What am I doing? What is the behavior that I'm engaging in?” And, maybe I should change it because it's not getting me to goal. I don't think so, because they keep going to networking events and behaving exactly the same way.

When going to a networking event your goal should never be to get a client because you're not going to and you miss out on all the other people who are there who could potentially be significant in your business world. Let's pick a different decision. Let's pick a different goal. The goal of networking should be to get to know people. To learn about them. To identify how they might fit into your world. They might be resources. They might be referral partners. They might be business friends. They might end up being clients. But until you go through the process, you just don't know. Now, if that's the goal, then what should the behavior be? The behavior is to learn, to ask questions, to listen to the answers. It isn't to talk, it isn't to hand out the business card. It isn't to try and persuade or convince. It isn't to spend the entire time looking for who might be a potential client. That didn't work. Take a look at your business and think about your goals. If there are goals that you are not achieving ask yourself the question, “What am I doing that isn't working?”

We have opportunities at every single point in time in our business to change our behaviors so that we get to our goals. The key is we have to pay attention. We have to actually stop and look and say, okay, hang on a second. And all too often we don't really spend the time thinking about and really digging in and saying, okay, this is my goal. Am I achieving it? Am I getting there? Yes. Great. I want to keep doing what I've been doing. No, I need to rethink what I've been doing because it's not getting me there. And it's not just in the sales process. It could be in creating content. It could be in your marketing efforts for those who have employees. It could be in your hiring if you have a revolving door in your company. If you're hiring and people aren't staying, that's an indication that whatever you're doing isn't working. You're getting them in. So that's working. Potentially. But once they're in, they're not staying. So is there something going on in your organization that isn't tracking with what the employee’s expectation is? Or are hiring practices not effective enough to get you the people who then will stay? It's one or the other. Do you have expectations of the people? Do you have people working for you where you have expectations and they're not meeting them? If so, there's something you're not doing effectively.

If you're not growing the way you want to grow or are hearing about customer service issues, then there's something you are doing that isn't working or you are not doing as a company that you should be doing. You owe it to yourself, your clients, your employees, your vendors, to everybody, to the people you network with to stop and take a look at what you are trying to achieve in each area of your business.

Watch the video above for more ideas about doing what works.

#strategy #businessgrowth #sales #selling #process