Do you want to grow your business, or do you choose to grow your business?
Troy, a financial advisor, claimed to be making constant prospecting calls, but he barely netted $60,000 last year.
“I’ve taken several sales training courses and am always reading sales books,” Troy told me during our first conversation. “I’m not sure why none of it is working for me.”
Are you doing the right activities?
When I questioned him about his activity, it was clear that his prospecting calls were sporadic and unscripted and that his appointments resulted in a very low closing ratio.
Troy was suffering from the same fate as many advisors who believe, “If I don’t have enough clients, then I need to take another course [or read another book or listen to another audio].”
But if this sounds like you, the truth is that you probably already know enough to have the success you want. You don’t need to obtain more information. You need to take massive, persistent action using the information you already have.
What’s your inner stance?
In his book, “Straight-Line Leadership,” author Dusan Djukich identifies this issue as having the wrong “inner stance.” If your inner stance about why you’re not moving forward is a belief that you don’t know how to get ahead, instead of a belief that you haven’t yet chosen to get ahead, you’ll keep going to seminars and reading books and trying out shiny, new prospecting ideas. You’ll only, however, be disappointed instead of taking the action you already know how to take, and that you need to take.
If, on the other hand, your stance is one of taking action — choosing to act on the knowledge you already have — your practice will flourish.
Are you choosing to put your knowledge into action?
Troy had spent years studying everything there is to study about selling services, but he hadn’t chosen to put that knowledge into action. So, while he may have been working hard, he kept doing the wrong work. Once Troy understood this, his business started to grow.
What’s your inner stance? If it’s a choose to, action-based stance, not knowing enough is an easily fixable condition. You will learn as you move forward, finding and applying the information you really need as you go along. Fears fall by the wayside because you’re on a mission to make things happen.
If you’re not constantly taking necessary required actions, it may be because you see your world as a place where it can’t be done. If that’s where you are, it might be time to get help with your inner stance.
Sandy Schussel is a performance acceleration coach who has been working with financial advisors for more than 20 years, helping them break through to higher production levels. Contact him to learn how he can help you make selling the least of your concerns.
To achieve more