Stop Drifting

Without personal goals and strong action, you drift.

Instead of moving closer and closer to what it is you desire, the strong current of external demands carries you downstream. Sometimes the current washes you up on land far from the destination that you desired and nowhere close to where you expected. The great danger in drifting is that it feels like you are moving, like you are getting somewhere, even though you aren’t under your own power.

The Currents in Sales

There are lots of currents in the sales game, any of which can sweep you away if you let them.

Not having a target list of dream clients or relying on others for leads is a strong current. Without dream clients as your goal, you will follow the current from prospect to prospect, bumping into the occasional nightmare client as you drift downstream. Without the goal of serving your dream clients, you will never do the breathtaking, jaw-dropping, earth-shattering work you were meant to do.

Once you have the goal of obtaining your dream client, you can struggle against the current, making the prospecting calls and nurturing the relationships that will ultimately allow you to reach your goal.

Not having a sales process that identifies all of the outcomes that advance the opportunity and create value for your dream clients is another strong current. Without goals and defined outcomes for each and every interaction with your dream client, you drift away from the opportunity to make a deal; drifting with the current causes your opportunity to stall.

With an effective sales process, one that identifies the goals and outcomes you need to move an opportunity from target to close, you can move against the current that is the strong desire to maintain the status quo.

Inactivity is probably the strongest current of all. Without strong and compelling goals, it is easy to dispassionately sit still while time relentlessly marches forward, carrying you further and further from your goal, and shortening the window of time you have remaining to do what you must do to succeed.

Passion Is the Motor

The goals that you make for yourself have the power of passion. If you really want something, you will be compelled to take the action necessary to get it. Your passion is the motor that allows you to power upstream, against the strongest of currents.

The goals that you are passionately pursuing are what keep you from drifting.

Questions

What are the goals that you are actively and passionately pursuing?

What keeps you from aimlessly drifting away from your goals?