When I went to sales school back in the 80’s every training company had a variant of this cartoon.
I think it was supposed to inspire us to recognise that there are lots of people out there who need our service – we just need to get their attention.
Well, these days I am not so sure. It seems to me we need to do much more than just get people’s attention. Let me explain: probably 80% of the business owners we meet admit to having a major part of their business that they are not happy with. It may be they need to streamline their production processes, or they may need to generate more leads. Many people need to improve their conversion ratios. Whatever it is, they see the need for it, and they see the benefits it can bring them.
Here’s the thing – only 1% of the people we meet, in spite of the fact that they recognise they need to change, will actually do anything about it. And why not? Usually they believe they are too busy.
There’s the guy who is working 18 hour days and is desperate for a better work life balance. What does he do? He keeps on with the 18 hour days – after all, he is too busy to slow down.
There’s the woman who is generating 60 enquiries a week, but only converting one or two into business. She knows she needs to improve her conversion rate but she is too busy generating enquiries that she can’t close to stop and work out how to convert them better. Never mind it would take her less effort. Never mind she would make more money – she just has to keep on going. Too busy to stop. Too busy to try anything new.
So, why do people do it? Why do they continue to punish themselves? Well, our theory is that they are afraid of change. They don’t admit to that of course – no, they tell themselves they’ll just get the next couple of actions done, and then they’ll take a fresh look at the business. And the next couple of actions become three, four, five, and so on. Nothing changes.
Making lasting change to our business is challenging. We have to stop what we are doing and risk losing some money while we re-evaluate things. We have to face up to the fact that we have been doing some things wrongly for some time, and we have to be prepared to change, to risk new ideas, and to leave our comfort zone.
Perhaps it’s no surprise then that so many business owners are like the medieval king trying to win the war, and missing a secret weapon. However, for the 1% of us who are prepared to stop and think, and are brave enough to challenge what we have done in the past, and to try something new, this is great news; because it means that we are going to leave our competitors way behind, still doing what they always did, and still hoping for a better result.
