Stop Doing the Same Things and Expecting Different Results
Happy New Year! With the start of a new decade, have you taken the time to consider what you want to accomplish over the next ten years or just in 2020?
Perhaps you want to:
- Close more business
- Attract higher paying clients
- Retain clients for longer periods
- Reduce costs
- Streamline processes
- Strengthen your team
All of these are admirable goals; however, I would bet most of these items were the same on your list last year. The problem most people face is that they focus on what they WANT instead of thinking through specific strategies on HOW to get what they want.
It’s like Albert Einstein said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.”
Here’s the cold hard truth: If you don’t change your behavior, you will NOT accomplish any of your goals. I’ve compiled four steps to help you in your quest to stop the madness and break past cycles of destructive behavior:
1. REFLECT ON 2019
Take a few minutes to reflect on wins and challenges you and your team may have experienced over the past year. Ask yourself:
- What are the two or three things that I/We did well?
- Does it make sense to do more of this?
- How can these be improved?
- Did you attract your ideal clients?
- Are you bringing on new clients just to meet the number or strategically growing your business to support long-term growth?
- Are there people on the team who are toxic or are not contributing to the organization’s overall success?
- Is it time to rethink roles and responsibilities and bring new talent into the organization?
Consider the repetitious decisions you or your team members tend to make that prevent you from continuously achieving your goals. And, finally, reflect upon whether you are genuinely ready to make a change in your behavior. Have you accepted whatever growth you’ve achieved and adapted to the status quo rather than attempt to improve your current condition? After all, you hold a good position and make good money. Are you ‘Camping’? Have you decided to stop climbing toward your personal summit, or are you ready to ‘Climb’ the mountain towards success?
2. TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR SELF CONCEPT
One of the greatest things I’ve found that holds people back from getting to the next level is called Identity versus your Role or the I/R Theory. We are all made up of two entities. One is our identity — our self-concept, our self-worth, our ego; the other is the roles we carry in life — our role as a husband, a father, a mother, a salesperson, a closer, a business owner, etc.
David Sandler explained it this way, “Your performance reflects how you see yourself.” If you feel good about yourself, all things being equal, you’re likely to perform better than someone who has a lower opinion of themselves. To put it simply, all things being equal, the person with higher self-esteem will, more often than not, perform better than someone with lower self-esteem or self-identity.
Here’s the rule to remember: Your performance in any role reflects, more or less, how you feel about yourself in general. If you want better performance, improve your self-identity. A poor performance in any one of your roles MAY affect your self-identity rating, but a poor self-identity rating WILL DEFINITELY hurt or limit your role performance. Who you call on, the products you sell, your August case sizes, and how much you earn a year have more to do with your self-worth than your product knowledge?
3. PLAN
Once you’ve outlined the goals you want to meet, now it’s time to map out how you’re going to achieve them. Take the time to list each step needed to meet each objective. Assign all people associated with each task. Put a timeline around each. Consider:
- Are your team members aligned with the organization’s mission and vision?
- s your plan easily achievable?
- Have you outlined new skills necessary or additional resources?
- Does your environment need to change, your desk, process, etc.?
Remember one of my favorite business rules: there is always a plan in play; if you don't have a plan, you become part of someone else's by default. Whoever has the stronger plan wins.
Planning is an essential piece of the success formula. If you are struggling with this, please contact me, and I’ll be happy to share how we work with clients to develop a stellar plan.
4. TAKE MASSIVE ACTION
Do you want more? Then you need to DO more! Most people get stuck thinking about what we want to achieve. We spend hours dreaming about what it would be like to land that whale of a client or crush our sales quotas. The problem is all we are doing is wanting and thinking, not doing. Remember, all goals are broken down into behaviors we can control.
Taking massive action means you are 100% committed to executing the plan you outlined, ensuring different results for the new year and beyond. It means blocking out time to work ON your business, not just filling your calendar with tasks and appointments. It also means staying the course and not chasing the next shiny object. Stick to the plan and hold your team and yourself accountable by holding monthly or quarterly review sessions.
While there’s no silver bullet to achieving success, if you are open to changing your behaviors, you are well on your way to crushing your goals this year.
Remember to do a little bit all of the time, not a lot some of the time.
I’d like to hear how changing your behavior is working for you. Please reach out to me via LinkedIn and let me know how it’s going.
Glenn Mattson is a seasoned veteran of the selling profession, Glenn has personally built one of the leading offices for Sandler Training with his office ranking consistently in the top 1% of Sandler franchisees worldwide. He specializes in working with financial services producers and agency managers who want to shorten their selling cycles, grow their revenues, boost their productivity, and improve their operational efficiencies. Glenn's clients include many producers who seek to be MDRT qualifiers as well as Court of The Table and Top of The Table members who attribute a great deal of their success to the principles, practices, and, above all, the accountability Glenn brings to their practice. Glenn is based in Long Island, New York, but he's usually "in the field," working with clients all over the United States helping them to grow their business, revenues, and profits. Additionally, Glenn is a sought-after keynote speaker, available to speak to small or large groups on emerging business topics.