I was indirectly referred this book by a fellow publisher in my company and decided that I needed to take action on something in my life. So I have chosen this book to kick off my new found desire to move forward.
The book is titled, "How I Conquered Call Reluctance, Fear of Self-Promotion, & Increased My Prospecting!" by Sidney C Walker.
Since I have a really difficult time motivating myself to make calls to set up appointments, and I have an equally hard time doing drop-ins where I stop by a business, ask for a business card of the person who handles marketing, I knew I needed something to change.
I started with a time of 30 minutes reading a day. I got through Chapter 1 in that amount of time. In chapter one it asks a bunch of questions and I wanted to do something I haven't consistently done ever...I wanted to answer those questions.
Here are the questions that the author poses with my answers below. Feel free to write down these questions and ask yourself honestly what your answers would be.
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Q1: What do I want my business to look like?
I have two main businesses at this time and so I answered for both.
BVM - Friendly Neighborhood Media
- Multiple magazines
- 2-3 new magazines each year
- Multiple team members
- Calling each day
- Drop-ins each day
- Appointments each day
- Sales each day
- < $10,000 over baseline in each magazine
- Always do through follow-ups on calls and appointments
- Start Daybreak magazine myself
- In the next 3 years I want <10 magazines all <$10,000 over baseline
- After I get 10 in Utah, have them all <$10k over baseline, and have a team running them well, I want to move and start magazines in a new location
MCC - My City Chamber
- Surpass goals for both of my current projects
- Drop-ins each day
- Sales each day
- Always do thorough follow-ups on calls and appointments
- Attend events
- Add on Riverton, Bluffdale, SWVCH, and others
- Hire and train a team to take over and run this business
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Q2: Am I committed to having the things I say I want or are they in the "it would be nice" category?
Honestly today I'm feeling pretty committed. But my commitment wanes and I find that often times these things are in the "it would be nice" category.
I want these to constantly be in the committed category and I want to actively work for these goals daily.
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Q3: How would it feel to accomplish the things I say I want?
It would feel amazing. I would feel elated and successful. I would finally accomplish a large goal I set for myself instead of running from it.
I would have less stress. I worry so much about money and where I'm going to get it from that having that stress relaxed would free up a lot of energy to focus on other things.
I would show myself that I'm worthy of success. I would show myself that I can accomplish what I set out to do. I would feel like I am enough and that I can do anything I set my mind to do.
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Q4: Is this an important feeling for me to have?
It is very important that I feel that way. I have for so long felt hatred and contempt for myself, I need to change how I feel about myself!! I need to finally feel love for myself without having to fake it.
It will set the framework for the rest of my life it I can just get over this hump and accomplish my goals in this business.
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Q5: Am I willing to do whatever is necessary, within reason, to have that feeling?
I am willing. I want it so bad! I am desperate for it. Oft times I get so distracted by other things because I feel that I'm unworthy of what I want. I feel I can never have what I want or I'm not good enough to be successful to the point that I finally have what I want.
I will do whatever it takes and I will keep this feeling present in myself so I can move from where I'm at to where I want to be!
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Q6: Can I imagine not negatively judging myself or my sales activity ever again? How would that feel? Do I think that would free up some energy?
I have a hard time imagining that. (It took me a while to think on this and to finally answer it.) I have felt negatively toward myself for so long it would be quite a huge change. But yes, I can imagine it.
If I let go of that negative judgement and guilt, it would be freeing. I would literally feel lighter on my feet. I would have a bounce in my step. I would smile in a way that's contagious and people would ask my why I'm so happy. I would have boundless energy. I'd feel love for myself and a confidence that I've only been able to imagine before.
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Q7: If I could find a way to prospect that feels right, how would that feel?
It would feel more doable. I would have more confidence on the phone and in person. I would feel more at peace doing it each day.
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Q8: If I could find a way to prospect that fits my personal style and strengths and I discovered that I could actually do it, how would that feel?
That would be liberating and energizing. I would feel happy. I would be energized and ready to go out and get more prospecting done. It would raise my belief in myself and help me to be more successful. I would feel at peace, love for myself, more confidence and pride in my product. I would feel like I could succeed.
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Q9: Am I willing to consider that there are many positive aspects to prospecting that I have not yet had the chance to embrace?
Absolutely. I know that I don't know many things. My ego says that I do, but I know I don't. I have been successful to a point but never beyond. I have always held myself back. To achieve the things I say I want, I'm going to need to learn from others, to see things from other perspectives, and be open to criticism so that I can grow into the kind of person that can achieve the things I say I want. I don't know what I don't know. I believe there is a method out there that fits my personality and style that I can become the best me at and that will bring me success like I've never seen before.
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I finished out chapter one with these questions on my mind and went to answering them. I wrote them all on separate sheets of paper just in case I needed more space and also so that I could focus on one question at a time. Multi-tasking doesn't really work in these situations. If I were to see the entire list of questions, I'd focus on more than the one I'm trying to answer and I'd answer them all at the same time. Take question 6 for example. There are three questions in that question and had I focused on just one at a time, my answer would have been different. I didn't want to cheapen the experience by splitting my focus.
My advice to you is to give this some real thought. Write out the questions and then at a later time, come back to them and write your answers. Don't do it all at once. Give yourself some time to digest. I gave myself a couple hours. And also, I made sure that my phone was on airplane mode and my browsers were minimized so that I didn't get distracted. I gave this 100% of my focus.
It was difficult to be honest and to own up to my lack of action. For so long I have presented myself to others as infallible, and a kind of super human. I am working on that separately, but I hope that by being honest here, I can at least free myself of that thinking in business and that it'll spill over into my personal life. I don't know it all. I am full of flaws. I haven't been near as successful as I could have been. I have wasted many opportunities. I know that so many, if not all of us, could feel similarly, but by taking stock of those feelings, and taking responsibility of them, I am moving forward and changing them. My life will never be the same. I am sure that I'll still fail. I'll not quite live up to my potential. I get that. But what I will do is work hard to progress and move forward and learn to be better than I currently am. I will continue on this journey until the end of my days. Hopefully not the prospecting journey, but the journey of life that I'm starting again today. I will be more than I am today. I will more forward. I will.
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