Ignore the Speedometer
I bought myself a completely impractical car for my 55th birthday. (Total mid life crisis move, I get it.)
And I f*ck!ng love it!
It’s a 2-door convertible.
Uselessly small trunk.
420 horsepower, 6-speed manual transmission.
0-60 in around 4 seconds.
And at just above 3000 RPMs, when I punch the gas it feels like I'm strapped to a .30-06 bullet fired from my rifle.
Head thrown back! Body pressed into the seat! Adrenaline rushing!
And a strange feeling in my face...
A smile. A big old smile comes across my face.
For a moment, I ignore the speedometer. Too busy watching the road, I’m playing chicken with myself.
Within a couple of seconds, I take my foot off of the gas, glance at the speedometer, gasp at how fast I'm going, and begin to slow down.
It’s a ridiculous, dangerous game.
It’s different in business though.
Quite the opposite actually, because you've gotta ignore the speedometer to be safe.
All that matters is how hard you're mashing the gas.
A prospect told me 6 months ago he had such a full pipeline he was afraid he couldn’t handle all the business when it closed.
He clearly didn’t think it was necessary to hire me then.
Found out last week, when we talked again, that he closed about 20% of that business and was now struggling to make his numbers for 3rd quarter.
His ego was watching the speedometer. His ego told him “Hey, you got this. You’ll be so busy in 3 months, you won’t know how to take care of all of those new customers. Back off a bit. You don’t want to work that hard…”
When we looked back at his call log (the gas pedal), he'd stopped making calls to new prospects soon after we talked the first time.
He was too busy.
And 90 days later, he was almost out of business.
When you look at your pipeline and say “This is great! I am made!” what you're really doing is looking at the highest number on the speedometer and saying to yourself “Be careful! Don’t over do it!!!” - and you really aren’t going anywhere fast.
Ignore the speedometer.
Focus on the gas pedal, the inputs into your sales engine. Focus on the number of calls you're making, the number of referrals you're asking for, the number of appointments set, the number of prospects you're talking to who have an actual emotional, compelling reason to change.
If you do get so busy you can’t keep up, raise your damn prices, or go after bigger, more profitable prospects.
There are no cops on the sales highway. Go as fast as you can. Push the pedal harder. Feel the adrenaline. Make yourself smile knowing you're doing more than you ever imagined.
If you don’t, you’ll meet the only other person on the sales highway. The surly, fat tow truck driver who will be happy to take you to the graveyard of business shame. It’s expensive to get out of there. Might even cost you your job. Or your business.
I coach entrepreneurs and business owners who want to grow their business but aren’t comfortable with sales as they know it. They learn to close business without putting pressure on anyone, including themselves. The best ones have made over $100k in increased revenue in a relatively short period of time.
Not everyone can do that. I don’t have a magic pill. I don’t want most people as clients.
If you're committed to growing your business by closing more profitable deals while not wasting time chasing people who are only using you for your information, we need to talk.
Best case scenario, we figure out you actually don’t need my help! We will have had a good conversation and learned something.
Another scenario, we figure out we are the right fit for each other and get started immediately, analyzing your situation and taking steps to get your gas pedal pushed down.
Worst case - you never call and we never meet.
How in the hell am I supposed to learn from you if we never meet?
Bringing Honesty, Transparency, and Selflessness to Business.
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