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The Lead - Show Your Work

The title of this newsletter may be a little triggering to some of you. If your educational experience was anything like mine, your mind may be racing back to a math class somewhere in elementary or middle school. Teacher gives you a problem to solve, you can come up with the answer fairly quickly. But, the teacher wants more than the answer. He or she wants to see how you got there.

If you are pretty good at math (I’m not), this would likely be a frustrating prompt. If I know the answer, why do I have to document anything at all? Shouldn’t I just be able to write down the correct response?

I’ll gladly stay away from the educational theory of why teachers do this, but I’d imagine there’s some overlap between the topic for today when it comes to sales.

When you’re a solopreneur or business owner in the sales seat, it’s not uncommon to be running a patchwork system. Things like a spreadsheet CRM are the norm and probably ok for a time.

When results are good, we aren’t all that concerned. Growth is happening. We aren’t really sure why but no worries.

But as an organization matures, the limitations begin to reveal themselves. The obvious is when results aren’t where we want them to be. Downright bad and we’re lost. We’re likely to lament poor lead flow or misfit prospects.

Even when things are going pretty well, we may desire more. This can create the same sort of lost feeling. We’re growing but don’t know what button needs to be pressed to get to the next level. It’s a guessing game, potentially an expensive one.

Real, measurable data is critical for knowing what needs to be done. Hopefully that’s clear.

But here’s the second, and main point I want to make here now that we’ve laid the groundwork.

I talk to a lot of people who want to grow their company. They may even have a measurable goal in mind, which is great. But saying you want to do something, and doing it are two different things.

Here’s where the rubber meets the road. Growth does not happen accidentally. It’s not passive in my opinion. Even a company that’s swimming in leads, has done something to earn that.

Let’s use my analogy from the beginning. The first question, is the problem you’re trying to solve. You have to know where you’re trying to get to, that will determine what’s required.

Once you know the math problem, you can start doing the work. Now you may not know how to solve it, but you can start attempting to solve.

The activity is the work. Cold calls. Mail campaign. Referral relationships. It doesn’t actually matter all that much. You’re trying something to see if it’s going to work. You’re putting in effort to try and solve the problem.

The hard truth, is that most aren’t willing to do it and do it consistently. They’re essentially handing in a test, with an incorrect answer and nothing to show for why the answer is incorrect. When that’s the case, it’s extremely difficult for me (or anyone) to explain why you’re in the place where you are.

I have worked with folks who have a lot of work to show. It’s a matter of looking at what the data says and making adjustments. We can work with the evidence that’s there.

And then there are those who insist they want to grow, but there is no work to show. They may or may not be clear on the type of action that needs to occur, but nothing is happening. In some cases I’ve seen analysis paralysis, too much time spent pondering the answer without action.

By far though, the most concerning scenario is when someone desires growth, knows what they need to do and isn’t doing much of anything. The reality of business development is that activity makes everything else possible. Even when our efforts don’t seem to be working, taking action is still better than doing nothing.

I want to challenge yourself to ask a few simple questions:

-If someone was to come look at my CRM, KPI sheet, etc. would they say that growth is a top priority for me?

-If someone was to observe my day from over my shoulder, is there evidence that my desire for growth is aligned with my actions?

No one is going to do it for you. While it’s easy to blame external factors, it’s ultimately not helpful. You won’t get anywhere. Taking action will reveal the right levers to pull. And until you take that action, you’ll be handing in a test that’s full of guesses and incorrect answers.