Run down this list and see which one of these ideas is costing you money. Which myths are missing? When we take time to think things through, you will be amazed at the kinds of things we do out of habit. You need to think about getting yourself some slack.
1. Working harder is good for business.
Not so, what we really want are results
2. Great salesmanship is being an aggressive closer.
This is a “beyond the pull date” view of sales. The following works
- We listen
- We are never boring or boorish
- We watch out for the customers interests
- We offer solutions good for the customer
- We follow up- customers buy on their schedule- not ours
- We make great offers and
- We make powerful calls to action.
3. Concentrating on your weaknesses is good.
It is more productive and less head ache producing to concentrate on one’s strengths and configure the team to cover weaknesses.
4. If it ain’t broke- don’t fix it
In this day and age broken is hard to discover. Is lack of business growth a problem with the recession? Or a problem with too much competition?
The problem is right here, right now. Hidden right under the nose. It might even be looking at you in the mirror. You need a fresh perspective. Look around the site and see what inspires you. Look around and find what really ticks you off. You might be touching on something significant.
5. Change is risky
Lets look at what creates risk in Change.
- Change poorly managed
- Not understanding what really needs to change
- Standing still when survival requires change
are all much more risky than the abstraction of change.
That was all rather glib, but change can look really complex and risky at times because you have so many complex work-arounds for dealing with friction.
Easy change starts off as pain relief. Everybody likes pain relief. You can progress towards more change as pain relief grows.
6. Make sure other people are doing it, before you try it.
In this day and age this attitude pretty much assures you will be desperately trying to catch up. You can look around the Internet and see how other industries are changing technologies.
Contractors and service people are not the early adapters here. But we can be among the first to adapt what others have worked hard to perfect… in other fields.
7. Digital is unsafe, paper piles are safe.
There is a whole new world of cloud computing. You need to be here. It is digital. There are no piles of paper to get lost, to burn, to have to sort through… In fact, the digital world we sort with tags and keywords and search engines.
Digital does require backup systems. You need a secure plan for backup.
Paper piles give a good sense of security. You always have it on paper, unless there is a fire, unless their is a tornado… Do you remember FBI agents scouring downtown Fort Worth for sensitive papers after the tornado hit the Rainier Tower a few years ago. Paper is not really that save.
8. If you keep it in paper, it can’t get lost, you can always find it.
Hmm, we dealt with that already.
What is missing here? I know I have not exhausted the list. Comment below or send some email.
