How to get great results using bite sized chunks
First, a lesson from the King himself.
Apparently Elvis liked to have his steak cut up into bite sized chunks before it was served to him. The story goes that this made it easier for him to eat and digest his food without wasting too much time using a knife.
Now eating your food too quickly sounds to me like a fast route to indigestion. However, there is a lot we can learn from Elvis taking this approach.
Breaking down a difficult task into small more manageable sections is not new, but do we actually do it in reality?
Why you should do what Elvis did to get amazing sales results!
Think of it this way. You know that you are great at what you do. You know that there are people out there that need what you do and will also benefit quickly by what you do.
So if you know this already and you aren’t making the sales you need, then just what is stopping you?
PROCRASTINATION
Sorry and I really hate to say this, but you are a procrastinator with a capital P.
Everyone puts off tasks they don’t like doing. Whether it’s the accounts that need finishing, or the huge pile of ironing, there is always a really boring or hard job that needs to be done.
Then there is selling. Now I love selling and there aren’t many sales tasks I hate doing. I even love cold calling door to door. Well perhaps not when it’s raining!
My clients always have different reasons why they are not selling as well as they think they should be. However, when you look carefully at the reasons it boils down to two things.
A perceived lack of confidence, and or a lack of knowledge on how to sell.
So then what always happens is that the excuses on why they can’t sell starts to creep in, very closely followed by the procrastination.
[easy-tweet tweet=”“If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, then you’ll find an excuse” Jim Rohn” user=”@SucceedatSellin” hashtags=”#Sales #Motivation”]
How to stop becoming a Procrastinator
Now I’m not perfect at preventing Mr Procrastinator from distracting me from selling. Far from it, but I do have a few simple tricks to prevent him from moving in permanently.
- Do like Elvis, chop them up – Smaller goals and tasks are way easier to do than big chunks of work or big, overwhelming sales targets.
- Get the jobs you don’t want to do, done first –When you get scary tasks like cold calling out of the way first, you will in time find that they become a lot easier to do. I know this is often easier said than done, but the sense of achievement really is fantastic.
- Spread them out – Why punish yourself with trying to do all the rubbish sales tasks at once. Mix it up with some of the things you really enjoy doing. At DHL if I had a few minutes free on an industrial estate between meetings, I would always cold call a company I had never been into. Sometimes I even ended up with a meeting in the diary as a result!
- Look at your “Big Picture” goal – Reminding yourself why you need to sell is always a good exercise. Look at the holiday brochure of your dream destination, think about the new car you would love to buy, or picture your family having a party in the house you have your eye on. A few minutes visualizing the end goal really does kick Mr P out the door.
- Document your tasks – I have spent hours lecturing about the importance of documenting a sales strategy. However, a sales strategy is not just you saying how you are going to sell, or even what actions you are going to do to make it happen. It is about keeping you on track, so make sure EVERY single action in your sales strategy has a deadline to it. Then make sure you review your strategy regularly. I prefer weekly on a Friday afternoon when I am reviewing the week just gone and the week to come.
Now I’m sure you also have a few tricks that you use to keep Mr P from knocking on your door when your need to sell. I would love to hear what you do.
In the meantime, why not learn from the King of Rock and Roll and start dancing the bite sized twist around the sales tasks you hate. Remember, overcoming sales tasks in bite sized portions is so much easier to do, and in the long run it will deliver quicker and more sustainable sales results too!
This is great!! Just what I needed to remember with my current project. I love the story of Elvis.
Thanks Shannon I am so pleased you like the post. I love the story about Elvis too. Strange how even after all this time, he is still touching our lives in so many different ways!
Hi Susan,
I wake up earlier at 5 am to get some of my household tasks out of the way before I begin to write. Then I won’t be distracted with those types of things. I really need to cut the meaty things up into, as you say, bite-sized chunks. I also needto document how much time I’m doing which task to see if I am proportioning my time right.
Thanks!
Amy
Wow Amy, 5am is early!
Why not try timetabling your tasks in the diary and pop alarms on to remind you. I also like to vary the tasks throughout the day so I don’t stagnate. Helps spread the load so to speak!
I would love to hear how you get on Amy!
I am not a salesperson, but I can certainly use these tips on other aspects of my life (writing, for one). Thank you!
I am glad you find them useful to you Tracey no matter what you use them for. I too have to use them for tasks like writing to help me stay focused.
Love your tips about procrastination. I like to say that procrastination is a vibration of delay. When thinking of it in these terms, I have started planning a bit better. Love your blog!
I am so pleased you love my blog Tandy and it is already starting to support you in achieving your goals. I so agree with you that procrastination is a vibration of delay. I guess excuses are too!
Hi Susan,
It was really nice the read the article and watch the video, you have shared really great insights.
I feel a reporting or monitoring mechanism is also important to keep a salesperson in check and ensure he/she is moving on the right path to achieve the desired sales targets. I typically monitor lead generation and closures, so the number I track are five new positive leads a day and 10 closures a month. If I manage to consistently achieve the lead generation target and be religious with the follow-up closure is automatically achieved.
I am so please you found the video and article of benefit to you Adnan.
I totally agree with you about monitoring performance. It ties in with SMART goal setting. If you don’t monitor and know where you are at with your performance then it becomes so difficult to stay on track. Thanks for sharing how you deal with that. Great process!
#3 is a biggie for me! I tend to procrastinate until I have some much that it make my brain hurt! Thanks for the useful tips Susan!
You are most welcome Alice and I am pleased you found them useful!