2014 In Selling was all about transformation.
Most of the people who visited SalesTactics.org, however, were looking for advice on how to sell. Proven methods. Here are the five most popular posts at SalesTactics.org in 2014:
Copywriting Case Study: $600K In One Week
How To Get To the Decision Maker
Become The Influential Expert: Book Review
The Dummy Curve one is a surprise to me.
But my question to you about 2014 In Selling is this: What is your focus in sales?
The past?
Or the future?
2014 In Selling: Looking Forward Instead of Back
To succeed in selling today means looking to the future. You must transform yourself. I encounter far too many people who just want to know "HOW TO I MAKE A FREAKIN' DOLLAR!??" and have not yet discovered what is required to become an effective salesperson.
Consistency is one big factor.
Most people I know don't stick with a business idea beyond three days of sustained effort.
When you contrast this with the fact that it typically takes a couple weeks of sustained effort to get a business idea off the ground...well, you can figure out the results for yourself.
And a couple weeks is still a drop in the ocean in terms of time.
The Flywheel and Your Success
I began this blog on January 22, 2014.
It was after a period of serious reflection at the beginning of the year, in which I re-thought the model for my business. You'll see from the "post pattern" image above (click to make it larger) I was posting almost every day at the beginning. This was getting the flywheel starting to turn. Effort. Inertia. I didn't stop after three measly days. Or three measly weeks.
Now you wonder what happened after August. Why didn't I write so often anymore? At that point, the truth was: I didn't have to. I just didn't have to put so much effort into this blog in order to keep the traffic up.
The flywheel was spinning well on its own.
I just searched, and found out I don't have a post about the flywheel on this blog. Well let's get into it. The flywheel is a critical concept from Jim Collins in Good To Great. He explains it in detail here, following the heading "How change does happen".
Be prepared to be surprised.
Fanfare and bombastic talk about change does not produce change. Lurching from idea to idea does not produce change.
"Now picture a huge, heavy flywheel. It’s a massive, metal disk mounted horizontally on an axle. It's about 100 feet in diameter, 10 feet thick, and it weighs about 25 tons. That flywheel is your company. Your job is to get that flywheel to move as fast as possible, because momentum—mass times velocity—is what will generate superior economic results over time.
Right now, the flywheel is at a standstill. To get it moving, you make a tremendous effort. You push with all your might, and finally you get the flywheel to inch forward. After two or three days of sustained effort, you get the flywheel to complete one entire turn. You keep pushing, and the flywheel begins to move a bit faster. It takes a lot of work, but at last the flywheel makes a second rotation. You keep pushing steadily. It makes three turns, four turns, five, six. With each turn, it moves faster, and then—at some point, you can’'t say exactly when—you break through. The momentum of the heavy wheel kicks in your favor. It spins faster and faster, with its own weight propelling it. You aren't pushing any harder, but the flywheel is accelerating, its momentum building, its speed increasing.This is the Flywheel Effect."
When do most people give up? After just a few days of sustained effort.
Instead of quiet, consistent effort, most people search for that magic bullet. The loud, fast thing that's going to transform their life forever. Well, unfortunately that doesn't work.
2014 In Selling should have been about transformation and quiet, consistent effort for you.
How close or how far did you land from that target? What will 2015 In Selling be about for you?
>> Jason Kanigan is a business development expert. Was this information on 2014 In Selling helpful to you? Please Like or Share to let others know. And if you have a question, please Comment below! <<
