Based on my personal experience in dealing with hundreds of business owners and decision makers over the past 25 years, I have found that there are 3 levels of ACTIVITY in business.
By sharing this with your clients, staff or team members, you can MOTIVATE them to take action and make things happen...
Getting people to take action and change the things they don't like is a talent. It's not only a vital part of the sales process, it's a distinguishable quality of a LEADER. Leaders make you WANT TO vs. HAVE TO. Once the DESIRE exists to make a positive change, we focus on what we can do to start the process. In life insurance sales many years ago, I learned that I needed to UPSET someone's COMPLACENCY to encourage them to consider life insurance. That term has stuck with me throughout the years and has been a component of all my training programs.
This week's PROSALESGUY BLOG will be useful to you whether you are a professional salesperson, manager or business owner. Even though you may not be aware of it, there are 3 LEVELS of ACTIVITY in everything you do....
Inactivity is inexcusable. Do nothing and you are a victim of your own lack of action. Procrastination clearly fits into this category. Understand that you are the one making the CONSCIOUS DECISION to be INACTIVE. Inactivity means you will eventually be out of business.
You are doing something based on something that has already occurred to you. You are reacting and attempting to deal with the situation to the best of your ability. You may NOT have the luxury of time to be INSIGHTFUL and THINK THROUGH your reaction. This may affect the outcome. Being in a constant state of REACTIVITY will potentially put you in CRISIS MANAGEMENT MODE. True enough, there will be times that being here is unavoidable. The more you stay in this level consistently, the more you make the decision to be a FOLLOWER. Understand that you make the decision to be reactive.
#3 Proactivity
You do things insightfully BEFORE anyone else. You are FIRST. You see things DIFFERENT. You TAKE CHARGE. You TAKE CHANCES. You call them calculated risks. You are not always right, so MAKE MISTAKES. You LAUGH AT YOURSELF before others do. You LEARN more from your FAILURES than SUCCESSES. You GROW. You DO. You DON'T WAIT. You are the MARKET LEADER. Leaders PROACT.
Which level of activity would YOU prefer? Make your choice. That is the statement I ask all business owners and decision makers I come into contact with. I would rather apologize to people for my CLARITY than make excuses for not UPSETTING THEIR COMPLACENCY to be PROACTIVE.
I do believe it is the job of salespeople, business owners and leaders to understand these 3 LEVELS OF ACTIVITY and entice people to make important decisions to bring about positive change. Remember, it's about WANTING TO DO IT vs. HAVING TO DO IT.
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Thanks for reading!
Dave Warawa - PROSALESGUY
80% are in the first two groups and only about 20% in the proactive category. It's amazing how many are inactive, head in the sand, and blaming it all on "the economy".
Such is human nature. If the economy is troublesome for a retail client, the next question is 'What are they doing about it?" The better sales they have - the more they help the economy. The less they do about it - the more they contribute to a poor economy. Unfortunately, its the proactive who get this, not the reactive. Thanks for your comments Jack!
