Now that Christmas and the New Year celebrations are behind us, many of us are getting back into the swing of things, returning to work after a short break, or beginning to create momentum in our business. And for many, new resolutions would have been made for 2017, which, for the majority of people, will be discarded by the 15th of January, the day commonly known as New Years Resolution Funeral Day.
Coming back after holidays can inject a new level of enthusiasm and energy into activities, however, this can be quickly forgotten when you look at the mountain of work that sits in front of you. So much so, that old habits of 2016 automatically kick in and nothing really changes. So what started out as an enthusiastic start to the year can quickly become groundhog day, where the same activities are repeated, leading to the same results. The end result being that the business plateaus and big step changes are not made. This can lead to revenue and sales also plateauing, or even dropping, because the ‘status quo’ has been maintained, all the while, competitors are changing their approach and getting different results.
One of the key reasons for this is that you may be playing the small game, thinking that your activity level is high, but really no higher than last year, and hence you will experience the same results. Remembering that it is insane to think that the same activities repeated over & over will lead to a different result. Something must change. If this is you, it is time to play big. What does this actually mean though? To me, playing big is not necessarily just doing different things, it is about doing what you are currently doing in a slightly different way, and with a higher level of intensity. As one of my mentors often says, ‘the only way to achieve big results is to play big, life is too short to do anything else’.
Here are some ideas to consider when is comes to playing big :
- Back Yourself – Nothing great has ever been achieved by someone who did not have an unshakeable belief in their ability to achieve. This belief is like the rocket fuel that enables the rocket to take off. And playing big requires you to have a massive self belief. One of the more recent examples of massive self belief and backing yourself is Elon Musk. What Elon has been able to achieve over the last 10 years, despite so many people doubting him, and organisations and sometimes governments trying to block him, has been nothing short of phenomenal. Elon’s self belief is unshakeable, and because of that, he backs himself every time, and also has the ability to rationalise for himself. This gives him the self confidence that anything is possible. Hence he backs himself. What do you need to either do or believe, in order to be able to back yourself this year? Back yourself and play big.
- Be a Risk Taker – Linked to backing yourself is the ability to be a risk taker – to be able to take calculated risks. When you back yourself and have an incredible self belief, you will find that your ability to take risks will be higher, because your level of optimism is higher. Now this does not mean that you will be taking dangerous risks or silly risks. Quite the opposite. When your self belief is high and you look at what needs to be done, you will be in a position to study the consequences of various actions and therefore determine what level of risk will be tolerable for you. Always remember though, that nothing is guaranteed. At some point, you will need to take a leap of faith and risk not achieving something. However, if you have studied all of the possible consequences and you believe that you can handle the worse possible scenario, then move forward with confidence, because really, this is not risky. Play big.
- Increase Your Green Time Activities – It constantly amazes me the number of leaders and business people who talk a big game and give others the impression that they have it all together and are focused on the areas that will deliver results. However, when you observe them, they are literally doing the complete opposite. they are expending energy in areas that will not deliver a result. So it is critical to increase your focus and efforts on green time activities. What are these? These are activities that either directly or indirectly lead to revenue generation. To run a successful business, much of your focus must be on revenue generating activities. Anything less is a waste of time and is not playing big. Examples of green time activities include creating a new sales funnel with an attractive lead magnet, reaching out to a prospective customer, attending a customer meeting with your sales executive to progress an opportunity, or bringing a group of customers together for an industry forum. All of these activities (and many more) will either result in revenue generation directly, or move a step closer to revenue generation. So look at your current activity level and where you are focusing your time. To play big, 85% of your time must be in green time. Anything less is playing small!
- Minimise/Reduce Your Red Time Activities – In line with spending more time on activities that will lead to revenue generation, it is critical to reduce your time on non-revenue generation activities – or red time. These activities take up a lot of time, and can make you feel as though they are value adding, but unless they lead to revenue generation, you must question them and limit your focus on them. Typical red time activities include responding to email, internal meetings, reading social media posts, running many reports, coffee chats and many phone calls. To play big, you must be uncompromising on your focus on green activities and equally uncompromising on minimising (or where possible, eliminating) red activities. A great filtering question to ask around any activity is ‘Will this activity lead to new revenue for me and/or for the company?’ If the answer is no, then don’t do it, or diarise to do it outside of revenue generation hours. To play big, you must be in the green zone.
In front of you is a fabulous opportunity. 2017 can be the greatest year of your life, and the key to that is playing big. Back yourself, take calculated risks and focus most of your energy on green time activities, and watch your revenue and your influence soar!!
To your continued success.
Darren
If you want to know how you can better lead your sales team, send me an email at darren@darrenmitchell.com.au
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Darren specialises in working with Sales Leaders to create, implement & embed a sales leadership game plan that will deliver outstanding and sustainable sales & revenue results. He is also the founder of the Australian Sales Leadership Network, a LinkedIn Group for sales leaders to share insights, strategies, resources and best practices, in order to build high quality, engaged and successful sales teams, delivering profitable and sustainable sales results. To apply to join, please click this link.
