Years ago I was working with a client who seemed really, really stuck. He was giving me all of the reasons why coaching wasn’t working for him and why he couldn’t Sell with Intention. After his rant, I finally stopped him and I asked:
“Are you updating your Work in Progress Report regularly”?
“What?” he asked?
I repeated, “Are you updating your Work in Progress Report regularly?”
“Well, no” he stumbled over his words. And then he admitted that no, he hadn’t been updating his Work in Progress report. Upon further investigation, it became clear that not only had he not been updating his Work in Progress Report (our sales training form), he also hadn’t been managing his time, focusing on his sales stretch goals, following up with his prospects, marketing and more. In other words, he hadn’t been doing ANY of the things he needed to do to reach his stretch goal.
And, he’s not alone.
I’ve had this same conversation with countless entrepreneurs and sales professionals who have BIG sales goals but aren’t willing to do what it really takes to get to where they want to go. They THINK they are, but are often sub consciously sabotaging themselves.
Here’s the great news: You CAN stop self-sabotaging yourself and BEGIN to reach your sales goals. The first step is to simply become aware of what’s getting in your way. I’m going to share the top areas that people most often self-sabotage themselves and what YOU can do about it.
1. You aren’t tracking your sales. First of all, there’s no shame here. Most people do not track their sales. They don’t know how or they just don’t do it. This is one area that can make an immediate impact on your sales. By tracking your sales pipeline (prospects + 99% closed + closed) you can begin to see who you need to follow up with. Many of my clients told me that this one action, tracking their sales pipeline, helped them double or triple their sales!
2. You aren’t following up. Perfect seque-way into the art of the follow up. By tracking your sales, not only do you know WHO to follow up with, you feel motivated to do it because you can see the potential that is in your pipeline.
3. You aren’t willing to carefully manage your time. Once you know what’s in your pipeline and you understand who you can follow up with, you can start to calculate how much time you actually need on your calendar to follow up. For most of my clients, it’s actually less time that they thought. At Sales Camp (our signature two-day course) we have proven over and over again that most people can set between 2-8 appointments in just 30 minutes of phone calling if you are prepared. What could 2-8 new appointments every day do for your sales results?
4. You aren’t doing what you know you need to do next. You know what you need to do, but you aren’t doing it due to procrastination. It’s on your list. You read your list. You re-read your list. But you don’t take the next step. Or maybe you don’t even have a “to-do” list. If that’s the case, please know that your productivity will go up by 25% simply by having a list of what you need to get done. So, do that first. Create your list. And then choose one thing that you feel motivated to get done. Chances are that once you get into motion, you will keep moving!
5. You are comparing yourself to everyone else’s success. One reason people stop is because they aren’t where they want to be, they compare themselves against everyone else’s success, and they get stuck. By comparing themselves to everyone else, they start to define their success and their next steps based on what everyone else is doing—not what THEY feel inspired to do. Recognize that YOU have all of the inspired ideas you will ever need. You just need to take those steps.
6. You have every excuse—and reason– in the book regarding why you haven’t reached your sales stretch goal. Someone once said, “You can have your reasons or you can be rich”. We all have life stories. When I lead the One Great Goal Retreat (based on my second book, One Great Goal) I lead my clients through the process of writing down the current story they’ve been telling everyone regarding why they haven’t reached their goals yet and then we tear those stories up, drop them in the garbage and write a NEW story—the story they really want. Is it that simple? No. But writing a new story allows you to take steps in a new direction.
7. You aren’t coachable. I’m not going to say a lot about this one. You KNOW whether or not you are coachable and open. I LOVE working with coaches and mentors and am extremely coachable because I KNOW that when I work with a coach, I can move really quickly to the next level as long as I am ready to move. You have to be coachable and open if you want to get to the next level.
8. You aren’t willing to get out of your comfort zone. It’s easy to live in your comfort zone. It’s comfy there—that’s why we call it a “comfort” zone! However, your comfort zone will NOT carry you where you want to go. You have to get uncomfortable to get where you want to go. If things feel too easy, you probably aren’t moving where you want to go. Choose one thing you can do today that feels outside of your comfort zone but you KNOW will take you where you desire!
9. You let your limiting beliefs lead you. Let’s face it. We all have limiting beliefs. The question is, do you let your limiting beliefs lead you? In other words, if you don’t believe you are “enough”, then you will make every decision from that “place”. It’s so important for you to recognize your limiting beliefs, how they stop you and then to recognize that you can release them. An easy way to do that is to write your limiting belief down and then write down three things that aren’t true about it. Next, write down the new belief that you would love to have that could help you take a leap forward. Now, make your decisions from THAT “place”.
10.You blame everyone else for not achieving your goals. The only person who is responsible for where you are today is YOU. The only person who is responsible for where you want to be tomorrow is YOU. The sooner you realize that and commit to taking responsibility for ALL of it, the faster you will leap to the next level. I promise!
11. You don’t manage your emotions. How we feel dictates our decisions and if we aren’t aware of how we feel we will make decisions based on feelings rather than based on logic. Whenever you are going to make a business decision, check in on how you are feeling. Are you feeling committed and positive? Then that’s a great place to make a decision from. Don’t make decisions from fear, anger, etc.
12. You aren’t willing to be the best version of yourself. At the end of the day, it’s up to you to be the version of yourself that you can be. Do this for yourself. Do this for your clients. Do this for your family. Do this for your children. Do this for the world. What does it mean to be the best version of yourself? How will you look? How will you show up? How will others see you? Make a list of what it means to be the best version of you and then BE that YOU!
This might have been a painful list for you to read through but hopefully it will help you stop self-sabotaging yourself. It’s worth it to continue this inventory as you move along in your career, business and life. The bottom line is that when you become aware of how you are getting in your own way, THEN, and only THEN, do you have the power to change it.
We took our 2.5 year old son, Lucca, to see Zootopia recently. He loved it and we loved the messages in it. Judy Hopps, the first bunny to become a Police Officer said, “Life’s a little bit messy. We all make mistakes. No matter what type of animal you are, change begins with you.” Yes, life and business can be messy. Yes, self-sabotage happens. But it’s time to dust yourself off and demand the best version of YOU.
