Mistake That Holds Salespeople Back (Stop This 1 Habit)

[00:00:00] Rob: You know that one thing that’s on your list of things you gotta do? You know, you keep avoiding it. It’s on your list every day. Maybe you move it to tomorrow. Maybe then it’s next week. Then somehow a month goes by, and you still haven’t gotten that thing done. Hmm, we’ve all done it. So here’s the question: Why haven’t you done it yet?

[00:00:16] It’s been a month. Is it that important? How do you know? I’ve got a simple little trick that will help you finally get it done or give you permission to just let it go. Let’s get started.

[00:00:31] So as salespeople, we have hundreds of things that we probably need to do every day. In fact, we probably keep a list of things that we wanna get done, right? Well, guess what? There’s probably one thing on that list that’s just stressing you out. You keep putting it on the list. It shows up, you look at it, you go, “Boy, I gotta get that done today.”

[00:00:46] And then at some point during the day you go, “Eh, maybe I’ll get it done tomorrow.” And then you put it on tomorrow’s list, and then it’s next week, then it’s next month. And at the end of the month you’re like, “Why? This just keeps sitting there, but I’m j- it’s… I can’t take it off my list.” So I got a, I got a trick for you.

[00:00:59] And, and I guess the first thing is, is what is that item that’s on your list? Is it, is it a cold call? Is it calling a specific client that you just don’t wanna deal with or talk to? Or is it a, is it a prospect that’s very difficult that you’ve had to deal with? Is it asking for a referral? Sometimes it’s even just asking for a referral that could be that difficult.

[00:01:18] What if it’s cleaning out your CRM? Like, I know I’ve gotta clean it out, I know I gotta eliminate dead weight, but I just… if I eliminate it, then I have less prospects to work, right? So if you have this list of things and you know it’s something on your list and you haven’t done it, it’s time to stop renegotiating with yourself.

[00:01:37] It’s time to get that thing done, or it’s time to make a decision as to whether or not it should just be gone. What we’re gonna do is create a tangible representation of what you’re avoiding. Here’s what I want you to do. I want you to take that one thing that you know you’ve gotta be doing. Let’s say it’s your, cleaning out your CRM system because you know you got some dead weight in there, right?

[00:01:56] We all do. And at some point it’s like, “Okay, I gotta go do this.” So what I want you to do is I want you to pull out a three by five card. And what you’re gonna do is you’re gonna write down the one thing that you know you’ve been avoiding, you’ve been putting off, you haven’t gotten it done, you’re gonna write it down.

[00:02:10] So let’s say for example, it’s the CRM, cleaning out the CRM system, get rid of the dead weight. You’re gonna write that down, and you’re gonna write down today’s date. Now, if in 30 days from the date you- that you wrote on that 3×5 card has gone by, you’re gonna pull that card out, and you’re gonna have to do one of three things.

[00:02:28] What you’re gonna have to do is you’re gonna have to look at it and say, “I’m gonna do this thing,” and you’re just gonna do it. Okay? The second thing you’re gonna do, possibly, would be to delete it, to rip it up, to shred it, not do it, be done with it. And if that’s gonna be the thing you’re gonna do, you’re gonna recognize a couple impacts that’s gonna happen with you.

[00:02:48] Number one, you didn’t do what you thought was important at the time. If you felt like it was not important, why did you carry it around for 30 days? If you thought it was important, why did you write it down 30 days ago? There’s a problem. So if you’re gonna shred it and throw it away because you haven’t gotten it done in 30 days, there must be a good reason for that.

[00:03:06] It wasn’t important. Throw it away. It’s okay. I give you permission. The last thing you will have to do is maybe diagnose. What is the real problem? So the diagnosis is this. Was there something that you thought it was important at the time, you decided not to do it for 30 days? There must be a reason that happened.

[00:03:26] Why? Are you afraid of something? Were you afraid of doing it? Was there uncertainty? Was it that the task was way too big, too much to do, you couldn’t get it done because you didn’t know where to start? Was it because you were avoiding something? You need to diagnose what the problem was, because that issue, that task that you were supposed to get done, you wrote it down 30 days ago.

[00:03:49] And if you decided in 30 days, every day that went by, you pulled that thing out of your pocket probably five times, six times, 12 times a day, looked at it, saw it, knowing what it is, and made a conscious decision to throw it away after 30 days of carrying it around, that’s impactful. That means you just decided you didn’t care.

[00:04:13] There must be a reason for that, and I want you to diagnose that and figure out what that is. Now, if you need some help diagnosing that, that’s some of the stuff that I’ve done in these classes that I do. In my classes, we have several people that go into this class who, one, for one reason or another, have reasons why they think they should be getting something done.

[00:04:32] Sometimes at the end they say, “I didn’t really need to do that, because I thought it was important, but it really wasn’t.” And i- they figured it out along the way. The other way that happens is they realize what they’re avoiding, what they’re putting off, and why they’re doing that. So if you need some help with that, enroll in one of the classes.

[00:04:47] Contact me, let me know so we can get you into one of the classes, and we can talk about some of those situations that happen. And it’s okay. It happens to everybody. So if you found this to be helpful, make sure you like and subscribe, ’cause there’s gonna be more content just like this in the future.

[00:05:02] Until next time, remember, slow down and close more.