The start of a new business is like Energetic roller-coaster with ups and downs - there are periods where everything seems to be working for us and then the next moment comes and we feel that everything is wrong. Obviously, as long as everything is in order, we indulge in the positive experience and hold on to it as long as we possibly can because deep inside, we know that this positive energy would eventually fade away and we would either experience neutral or negative energy before the positive energy emerge again.
In the business world, the Energetic Roller-Coaster is primarily seen at the beginning phases of the business. For instance, in sales businesses, it takes time for a business to take off the ground. One has to first understand how the business works, what is the value of the product or service that the company sells, who are the target clients, how to reach these potential clients, how to advertise your product/service, how to present your product/service in the most effective way, how to create attractive payment plans, how to manage the cash flow and so forth.
In the beginning, the sales person would invest a lot of money, time and effort into the business with little to no return as there is a process to walk to get the wheel turning on a physical level. Unfortunately, most people do not understand in sales, the actions that one take now, WILL bring result in the future ONLY if they continue driving themselves/business consistently and therefore, most sales people would access energetic cycle through which they would either step out from or give up.
The Energetic cycles that I faced in sales functioned as follows:
In the first month of work, I was super motivated, excited and I pushed myself beyond my own expectations though, I kept forgetting that what I am walking now will only bear fruits in the future. Inevitably, reality knocked on my door and reminded me that the physical reality is moving way slower than how I move myself in my mind and, with forgetting the basic physical principles, I accessed negative energy of frustration, impatience by the end of the third month. This was the breaking point where I had to make a decision - to continue pushing myself and the business or to give up. With the support of my sales mentor, I decided to push myself and the business. Later I realized that it wasn't just me that went into the breaking point at the end of the third month - anyone that came after me to the company faced exactly the same thing where initially they were motivated and slowly but surely their energy level declined and they gave up. I investigated this point further and I found that the 3 months breaking point is a pattern that most sales people face no matter what and where they sell.
Making the decision to continue walking the business wasn't the end of the energetic cycle - after the breaking point phase came the next phase which I call the 'promises phase'. The promises phase is when I started seeing the movement but it was not yet tangible, touchable - it was definitely in the future but not yet completely here. In this phase, I would normally find myself accessing the positive energy of excitement, anticipation and sort of relaxation, as if I can breathe again. This I found to be a dangerous phase - this energy feels so great, you want to stay in it for as long as you can.
On a business level, what I found within myself was a slacking phase wherein, instead of consistently moving the business, I would hold onto the promises that were made, calculate the future income as if the money was already in the bank and thereafter allowed myself to lay back for a moment and do nothing. Obviously, this had to fall because not all promises matured to actual sales and I had to start everything from the beginning because during the slacking phase, I didn't make sure that the movement was constant and so, with starting again, I found myself again in the braking point cycle which could have been detrimental if I would choose to give up at the end of the cycle.
For myself, I realized that I cannot allow myself to cycle through these phases again and again and again - I must apply consistency no matter what the mind is telling me. I realized that Promises is not something that I can work with and I must continue moving myself to source more clients, have more appointments and more sales to ensure the success of my business.
How did I apply consistency as a living expression of myself?
In sales, there is always a pattern of success that one can identify and categorize into a daily living application. For instance, as a sales person, you must generate leads, schedule appointments, make appointments, close the sale, get referrals and support your client with your product/service. As a sales team leader, you must follow up on your team, open opportunities for them, coach them, train them and so forth. Each person must identify the specifics steps that they must walk to ensure their individual success and thereafter, schedule these steps into a daily living application. So with the example of a sale person where you know that you must generate leads every day, schedule appointments, performing appointments, follow up on your clients - place each step as a time frame in your daily schedule. For instance, plan 2 hours of your day to make phone calls wherein, 1 hour is to schedule appointments and another hour to follow up on existing clients.
Each step needs to be pre-defined as to how many hours a day will you devote for the task and thereafter, all you have to do is discipline yourself to commit to the schedule that you created for yourself.
In creating structure in your day to day living, there is no place for energetic fluctuations as in every moment of the day, you know exactly what needs to be done to make your business a success. Though, if you are not clear on WHY you are doing what you are doing and/or, you do not understand the number game principle of sales, you will very quickly fall into the energetic ride even with having a structural schedule to follow.
This will be discussed in the next blog
0 comments:
Post a Comment