During a recent daily walk, I noticed I had gotten all the way to Starbucks (about 2 miles) and nearly back home and had not checked my Fitbit once to see how many steps I’d taken. It was fascinating because I used to be pretty obsessive about checking how many steps I had for the day and how much more I would have to walk to reach the goal. Was I getting the job done? What else will it take? How much more time would I need to put in? Obsessive is the right word. I never do anything a little bit.
It was interesting, though, because, after 165 days of being pretty relentless about making sure I got the job done, I found I didn’t need to check to see where was. I had the confidence to know what I was doing would give me the results I was looking for. I know what I have to do to spend the time it takes to make sure all the steps are made. I know what happens if I don’t take care of it early in the day. I still have to get the job done but it’s a lot harder in the evening.
This got me thinking about the correlation between my walking life and real work. At our company, you know we’re focused on helping the people we work with sell more and lead their businesses at a high level. When coaching others, we are obsessed with having the right score with the right measurements to understand if and when the job is getting done. Are we taking the right steps to get the results we seek? (Pun intended!)
In selling, one of those big daily steps winds up being how many meaningful conversations you have with a potential buyer. A meaningful conversation only counts when you have a next step with someone. Next steps are defined as:
- You set a follow-up appointment with a time or date.
- You booked an event.
- You learned you weren’t talking to a decision-maker but got the right name and set an appointment with yourself to follow up.
- The potential buyer told you to buzz off so you marked them off your list and added someone new.
When you figure out your ultimate goal (how many events you need to book in order to have the sales you want), you can better understand how many meaningful conversations you must have. By the way, you also have to understand what your close ratio is. It’s simple math. When I have X number of meaningful conversations, I close Y number of parties/events which = $XXXXX.XX.
So, the BIG goal (the ultimate sales number) is like my 12,000 steps each day. In order to make that happen, I have to put one foot in front of the other 12,000 times. It doesn’t matter if I run or walk or stroll or get up every hour and make sure I move. I have to take it literally one step at a time every day.
If it takes you 50 meaningful conversations in a week to book 25 events (50% closing ratio), then you better be having NO less than ten or more meaningful conversations each day. I personally would bump that up 20% (12) just to be sure. AND I would get that done earlier in the day since everything is harder late in the day. I promise that sometime after 65 days in a row of being relentless in your pursuit, you’ll look up and think WOW! I didn’t even check and I’ve already reached my goal for the day!
When that happens, maybe you can break for lunch and walk to Starbucks and also reach your step goal!
