Last week a client sent me a note saying that since attending the Chicago Roadshow 4 weeks earlier, he had already hired a new SDR and was cranking away at the list-cleaning process Adam Spencer shared, revised all the scripts for his current SDR that dramatically improved her success rate at getting to the decision maker, revised and updated the scorecards and quota, implemented a dialer and started sending out a campaign to get appointments – he had already gotten 3, with more to come.
He also shared with me a few things he changed on the initial qualification call that was helping to set him up for the on-site discovery meeting; he’d added the “5 Ways Cheaper IT Firms Hide Their True Cost” document to his pre-meeting materials (Shock-And-Awe) and had already closed one smallish managed client for $1,500 per month AND was extremely excited and confident that these changes were going to start paying off BIG.
HE’S getting ‘er DONE. Thanks, Larry.
If I polled most of those who attended the Roadshow, here’s what I would have found: the workbook is still sitting in a giant pile of “stuff” on the desk, maybe still in the suitcase, untouched, the Dashboard resources not downloaded, nothing changed, nothing implemented, back to “business as usual,” which is busy, busy, busy, but the SAME.
A lesson I have to teach and reteach and remind folks is this: results don’t happen by accident.
I wish I could magically change someone’s situation for the better by simply having them attend my event, but I can’t. This is why many stay home. It’s not that they don’t think they’ll learn new things and see value; it’s that they know they won’t change or implement bupkes, so why waste the time learning a bunch of stuff you’ll never do, adding to your already existing guilt about what you know you’re not doing?
Jack Welch talked about the 4 “E’s” all top-performing leaders at GE had in common. Energy, which was the consistent drive to work hard: Energizing, the ability to energize their team to get the work done; Edge, the ability to make a tough decision, or one of the characteristics Hill talked about in Think And Grow Rich, which is decisiveness; and the final E – Execution, or the ability to get results. Here’s what he wrote in his book Winning:
“Being able to execute means having the ability to get the job done. It turns out a person can have positive energy, energize everyone around them, make hard calls and still not get over the finish line. Being able to execute is a unique and distinct skill. It means the person knows how to put decisions into action and push them forward to completion, through resistance, chaos or unexpected obstacles. People who can execute know that winning is about results.”
When delegating, you likely see this a lot: You give someone a project. They say, “I’ll get it done,” or accept the task. Do they actually get it done? Often, no.
My question: “Did you get the appointment booked?” They say, “I called and left a message and they haven’t called me back yet,” and think they did their job. They didn’t. The job was to get an appointment, not call and leave a message and wait. If they didn’t call back, send an e-mail. Call again and again and again, getting more assertive UNTIL they call back. If that doesn’t work, call everyone in their organization and ask them to help you. If that doesn’t work, get in the car, drive over there, walk into their office and refuse to leave until they book the appointment. If you can’t drive there, send a FedEx, LinkedIn message and carrier pigeon.
The fact that they “haven’t called back” is irrelevant because I didn’t delegate this to them, I delegated it to you. “I’ll take care of it” means you actually get the task done with urgency. Not casually working on it. Not waiting for someone to do something. You get ’er done, quick, fast and in a hurry. Instant service. If you accept the job, you do the job, period.
If you have people and vendors working for you who you absolutely can depend on to get the job done, give them a raise and do everything within your power to keep them working for you. They’re rare.
As the leader of your organization, your ability to get things DONE is a habit that needs to be #1 on the list of habits you work on daily. Too many “leaders” of small businesses don’t have this ability and don’t want to burden themselves with the urgency of action. That’s why they work for themselves. It’s also why they barely grow after 10 or 20 years. They implement at the speed of continental drift.
And while I’m on the subject, please don’t waste everyone’s time regaling us with the trials and tribulations you’ve gone through to GET it DONE. Another MSP at the Roadshow, a member who’s been around for over 10 years, saw me and started telling me the SAME STORY he’s been telling me for 10 years. He can’t get anything done. He’s been under a million for over a decade because he can’t execute – but he has a STORY as to why. He loves his story and has told it to me so many times that I can practically repeat it verbatim. This time, I finished the story for him when he started it. He grins, realizing he’s telling it to me again, but still finishes it anyway. Nice guy, but crust on a cracker, MOVE ON.
People like to come to events to tell everyone their heroic story of how difficult the conquest was of getting something done. They LOVE to tell me of “all the work” they’ve put in and obstacles they’ve overcome to get a damned campaign out. I think to myself, “Why are you crying to me? You’re describing something that took you 3 to 4 months that should have been done in a week.” I don’t have time or sympathy for this.
As the saying goes, just show me the baby – don’t tell me about your 9-month pregnancy, morning sickness, exhaustion, backaches, swollen feet and labor pains. Been there, done that. Further, if getting ONE letter out ONE time was THAT painful and difficult for you, you’ll never make it. The successful ones brush that dirt off their shoulders and are on to the next, bigger thing they are getting done.
If you are ready to take the bull by the horns to get ‘er done in your business, schedule a free personalized strategy session with our advisors now.
