Craig Groeschell writes a newsletter and produces a podcast focused on leadership. We are all leaders in some walk of life. In his most recent newsletter he explains that success in any endeavor comes from being fanatically consistent. We get to a level defined as success by doing the small things consistently over time.
What are some of the activities and behaviors that a sales representative needs to become fanatically consistent about? Let’s start with work schedule. Having a consistent starting and ending time is a basic necessity. It’s when you switch on your work brain. You can’t expect to get better if you don’t have designated time to allow for that.
Another important behavior that you need to be consistent at is accomplishing the necessary activities during that work time. Activities such as making a specific number of contacts. This prospecting activity loads the top of your sales funnel. Without adequate input into the top you greatly limit what ultimately comes out of the bottom. Ask any accomplished and successful sales representative how they do it and being consistent with making calls will likely be at the top of the list.
Personal development is another activity that both leaders and personal producers do to keep them informed, inspired, and growing. These activities include listening to podcasts, taking courses live and online, and reading books that are specific to your job and your industry.
Leaders must be consistent in dealing with their team. They must adopt a style of communication that is consistent. How they deal with both high achievers and underperformers will likely be different but it must be consistent. Their team cannot perform at their best if they are always guessing how will the leader will be behaving.
Here are some tips for developing fanatical consistency.
- Create a list of habits and behaviors that you consider important to your success in your role. Be sure to put those in writing as writing clarifies thought and thought motivates behavior.
- Focus on one specific habit or behavior at a time. Choose the one that will give you the most leverage. Don’t move to the next one until you get this one in place. Some experts say it takes 21 days of doing something before it becomes a habit.
- Start your day with the routine designed for success. Get up at the same time, consume some content that inspires you to be your best, exercise, and eat a healthy breakfast.
- Think about your day as a system. James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, says that you don’t rise to the level of your goals, rather you fall to the level of your systems. His point is your systems, or lack of systems, determine your level of success.
- Be careful about multitasking. Some people consider it a badge of honor. In truth, developing the habit of completing one task at a time will likely help you perform better at whatever task you are tackling. Multitasking can lead to loss of efficiency that comes from switching erratically from one task to another before completing either.
- Be careful of distractions. Chasing the new shiny object can be a trap. Commit to staying focused on what you’re doing or what you have committed to doing. Limit social media and junk email. They can take your mind off of the true activities that need to be accomplished for success.
- Develop the habit of doing it when you don’t feel like it. Don’t negotiate with yourself. This is critical to developing fanatical consistency.
- Be patient and allow for occasional failure. When developing consistency with your attitudes and actions you will experience occasional failure. Don’t overreact. Get back on the horse and commit to doing it better next time.
Having a coach, mentor, or advisor is something else that you can do to help with developing fanatical consistency. They can meet with you regularly to hold you accountable. They can also help you troubleshoot when things get off track. Reach out to me if you are interested in a coaching relationship and let’s have a conversation.