Steve’s business was flat. And he was in a funk.
He had been in financial services for almost 10 years, and for the first 8 of them his business soared.
He found new customers almost every day — or at least it seemed that way. He was having fun, making good money, and felt like he was on top of the world.
Then about two years ago his production leveled off. Last year, for the first time in his career, he didn’t hit his sales/production/income goals.
And so far this year, he’s about 15 percent behind last year’s production levels.
Steve was angry, frustrated and knew he needed some help. He called me.
During our first conversation, I asked Steve to describe how he grew his business when he was getting started.
He told me that he spent all of his time prospecting. He was looking for new people to call each and every day.
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He went to networking events. He got referrals from his satisfied customers. He purchased lists of names. And he spent lots of time on the phone.
His business grew, and grew and grew. He thought it would continue to grow… forever.
As he became more successful, he figured that the business would come to him. So he stopped prospecting. He stopped renting lists. He stopped using the telephone.
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Yes, the momentum he had generated kept him going for a couple of years. But his rate of growth was shrinking. Then he stopped growing. He peaked.
When we started working together he was so bogged down with paperwork and administrative stuff that he didn’t have “time” to get on the phone. Steve was spending all of his time “servicing” his customers, and was too busy to find new ones.
As we talked over the next few weeks, Steve realized that he had become his own worst enemy. He had stopped doing the very things that had made him so successful: Prospecting and using the telephone to schedule appointments.
He vowed to clean up his act. And he did.
He discovered ways to eliminate, delegate, and streamline his paperwork/administrative duties. This gave him more time to spend looking for prospects. And he found them.
Today Steve spends at least 60 minutes on the phone looking for new business — each day, every day. Many days he’s dialing for dollars for more than two hours.
His production has soared and he’s going at a pace to make this year his best ever.
What about you? Is your production where you want it to be? If not, maybe you’ve got the same disease that Steve had — Too Busy-itis.
The symptoms being: No new prospects. No new customers. No new business.
So do this:
”’Stop”’ spending all of your time doing paperwork and miscellaneous “stuff.” ”’Start”’ looking for new prospects. ”’Schedule”’ at least 60 minutes of phone time each day. Every Day. Your activity will pick up, you’ll make more sales, and have more money in your pocket.
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”’Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey Mayer’s Succeeding In Business Newsletter. (Copyright, 2003, Jeffrey J. Mayer, Succeeding In Business, Inc.) To subscribe to Jeff’s free newsletter, visit”’ https://www.SucceedingInBusiness.com