What are you going to do with it?

“What are you going to do with it?” may sound like a trainer’s lament.
 
For the moment I’ll blame pg 169 of Sell Different by Lee Salz “What are you going to do with what you have read?”
 
Literally, on the last page of the book (well other than the key concept list and index), Lee challenges you to DO something with what you’ve read and even offers a few paragraphs about how to do it.
 
Here is the truth.
 
That’s not going to be enough for most people.
 
The majority of salespeople who go to training, read a book, etc – have great ideas when they’re done, AND then go back to their overflowing inbox and quota. Telling themselves that once they’re caught up they’ll implement something they learned.
 
Sound familiar?
 
Here is my list of what’s required to change your prospects current habits:

1. brainpower to think about you
2. time to do something about it
3. money to spend

as always, I’ll add that on top of that you have to be tenacious and not give up.

Notice, that list works for changing your own habits and putting what you’ve learned to work for yourself?

brainpower

You’ve already used the brainpower to think about that new thing… you also have to commit to expending more effort to NOT do what you’d been doing previously.  Which is MORE mental effort than learning it in the first place (at least for me).

There is a level of mindful commitment required. It means you absolutely have to understand where in a regular day the new stuff comes into play.

WARNING: if it is something that only happens occasionally it will be more difficult to consistently implement… so make committing to a daily practice activity a priority! It will be critical to your success at creating a habit.

time

Again, you’ve spent time reading that book, attending that class. Now it’s time to carve out (notice I didn’t say “find”) time from all your other commitments to DO something with what you’ve learned.

You may need to keep on the learning path to gain new skills that are needed or strengthen your skills in specific areas.

The time you need is also about daily practice – remembering that 5 minutes daily is better than zero minutes. PLUS we’re talking about sales skills; so using the new idea IN your regular day doesn’t actually require time carved out except for the planning part.

money

Perhaps you will not need cash, but it’s better to think this all the way through!

Will you need to take more/different classes before you’re through? Would hiring a coach help you be accountable and have someone to sort through what works and what doesn’t with you? Do you want to buy some more books to find out alternate ideas on the same topic?

You don’t necessarily need any of those things to successfully implement new ideas – I’d challenge that NOT figuring out if spending money needs to be part of your success plan will stop you from getting to where you want to go.

To help you be tenacious and not give up I’ve created a Learning Into Doing Checklist to help you.

• Page 1 = The Concept (what you want to start doing)
• Page 2 = Resources (to implement)
• Page 3 = NEXT STEP (you commit to taking)

Habitually yours,
Lynn