I cannot take credit for the title of this blog: I am a great fan of a marketing genius called Russell Brunson, and he used this title in a recent blog of his.
I liked it so much that I thought I would write a blog with the same title.
So, what do I mean by ‘stop stopping’?
This is a subject I continually talk about and discuss with my clients:
- It is usually much easier to not do the right or effective thing than it is to do it.
For example, if you want to get fitter, it\’s common sense to know that you need to take regular exercise – yet it is so much easier not to take exercise!
And the same rule applies to all effective actions.
So often, when I review actions agreed with clients, they explain the problems they are experiencing and I would then ask them: ‘What about the actions we agreed?’.
So often, they would reply: ‘Oh yes, I started doing that, but I stopped doing it after a while.’
For the purposes of illustration and to help you understand this point more strongly, here are some theoretical examples (that are based on continual experience):
- A client might say: ‘I\’m feeling so stressed, I have too much to do and not enough time to do it!’
- My response might be: ‘How have you been getting on with the time management actions we agreed?’
- And it is likely they might respond to this: ‘Oh yes! I did that for a while, but I haven\’t done it recently.’
- Key action needed: stop stopping!
- Another example (and this is probably the most common one – I expect you will recognise it!): ‘I am struggling to get people to do what they agreed and to make sure that what I delegated to them is done properly’.
- Response: ‘how are you getting on with using win/win agreements?‘
- Key action needed: stop stopping!
- Or: ‘We\’re struggling with customer loyalty’
- ‘How is your feedback and response system working?’
- ‘It seems to be harder and harder to find new customers: we’re having to offer more and more deals and discounts.’
- ‘How are you getting on with your slow selling systems?’
- ‘I find that people aren\’t contributing well enough in meetings and we\’re not being as effective as we need to be ‘
- ‘How are you getting on with your meeting planning and accountability systems?’
Now, you may think that these examples look a little bit glib – but every one of them is based on real and continual examples I experience on a day to day basis with clients at all levels in businesses: It\’s not that the people concerned don\’t want to get it right, it\’s just that it\’s slightly more effort to keep executing on the effective system [rather than the easier and less effective – normal – way of working].
So, when pushed for time, as so many of us often are, the new, more effective, systems can so easily get stopped and instead we fall back to the old ineffective way of doing things… for the sake of saving a few minutes today …
As the great teacher Jim Rohn used to say:
- Success is just a few small actions of self-discipline repeated every day
- failure is just a few small failures of discipline repeated every day
So, what can I suggest to help you do what you know will be more effective on a day to day basis yet so often struggle to do because of other pressures and concerns?
I think the best tool to help you stop stopping and to keep on the path of doing things more effectively [that , unfortunately, can be slightly harder and slightly more time consuming in the short term , which is why so few people do them and so many people stop doing them even when they start them] is the weekly compass plan.
The weekly compass plan forces you out of your day to day rush and hurry for 10 to 15 minutes a week and puts in place an easy and simple system of personal review and small step improvement in your systems and relationships.
This enables you to continually, and in small achievable steps, start doing things that are more effective and, probably more importantly, stop stopping doing things that you have already started.
We will be including a guided weekly compass plan each week with membership of the Slow Sellers Association, but if you would like more information on this tool and how to use it in the meantime please follow the links below.
In the meantime: remember: STOP STOPPING!
To listen to the Podcast on this subject, please click below:
To access free guidance on the weekly compass plan, please click here
To benefit from the free weekly top tips and ideas service, please click here
(You’ll also get a free ebook – The 7 Deadly Sins of Sales – and 3 exclusive videos about how to grow business, build remarkable levels of customer reputation and outsmart bigger and better funded competition … continually … without sacrificing principles or profits).
Slow Selling is a UK based not for profit organisation for leaders and managers in independent businesses.
Our systems deliver peace of mind and confidence to caring leaders and managers who have limited time and resources, want to do the right thing and grow their business … all without sacrificing principles or profits.
To find out more, please click here