I often get asked how I manage big projects. Do you have trouble multi-tasking and dealing with several bit projects at once? Perhaps it is a long sales cycle. I try to live by the following four support tools.
- I keep the big goal in mind whatever it is—a new house, a luxury car, a big trip, comfortable retirement, exceeding budget, winning an award, or more family time. Whatever the goal, I try and keep it in mind. Then with every task I do, I ask myself if it is helping me to get closer to that goal. If not, I don’t do it. But often I have to remind myself why this goal is important to me and re-solidify it in my brain so I can determine which tasks will get me there and which will not.
- Count your wins along the way. When you are able to exceed your annual contribution to your RRSP or place a down payment on that holiday—those are wins toward the bigger goal and need to be counted and celebrated. In the sponsorship sales cycle, there are several wins to get excited about. Getting that first meeting booked is a win. Having the first, second, and third discovery meetings are wins. Learning interesting information from the prospect is a win. Developing a relationship, a bond, and a trust between you and the prospect is a win. All of these need to be celebrated.
- Throw the procrastination and perfection in the back seat. Get rid of them. Just keep moving forward.
- Make sure you do mini-progress reports. These are not the big written reports to your superior. They are quick weekly or bi-weekly checks on how you are doing. Has the needle moved on that prospect? Has the needle moved with the in-house issues? Were you efficient and effective with your time this week? Just figure out what went right and keep doing it. Determine what did not go so great and find a way to fix it.
The key is to move things forward. Celebrate the wins. Continue tracking progress.
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Just out of pure curiosity, I like and agree with the notion of “celebrating wins”. My questions is: how do you celebrate YOUR wins? Nice dinner, time with family, celebrate my closing another partner?
Josh,
As always, thanks for reading Josh! How do I celebrate? Typically it is (for family wins) like a good hockey game by my daughter or continued success by my wife, it is dinner out or some activity we can do together.
For my wins… the success comes not in the close or the deal, but when the client succeeds. So when I was in the restaurant business, it was when the customer told me that it was the best meal or best service they had over had. Then the celebration was by letting the kitchen or server know the success and doing something for them like a free dinner or day off. In the radio business it was when a client was happy and I then shared the success with the production team and creative team out for lunch or drinks.