Jenny wanted to grow her consulting business. She was getting plenty of referrals but it wasn’t enough to double her business, which is where she wanted it to go. Because she felt like the missing piece was knowledge, over time she spent countless dollars with consultants and agencies to help her get her marketing and sales to improve. When that didn’t work, she hired sales reps. When that didn’t work, she went out and got a few more certifications to add to her roster of services. Well, when that didn’t work, she gave up and threw her hands in the air. Here’s why nothing worked:
You Can’t See What You Don’t Know
Every consultant or resource she invested in, all agreed on one thing: that she was being given some awesome tools to get more clients but she simply wasn’t implementing the plans because of her belief that she wasn’t good at sales and marketing. This very strong belief came from her childhood where she had tried to sell Scout Cookies with disastrous results. Doors were slammed in her face and her family often ridiculed her subtly for even trying to sell to friends and neighbours. Coming from an impoverished background, her parents scrimped and saved for every purchase. They simply didn’t believe in frivolous purchases and Scout Cookies were considered exactly that.
When Insight Isn’t Enough
One would think that having the insight of why Jenny was so bad at selling and putting herself out there to market her business would change her life and her business. Not so. Jenny was still stuck in the obstacle of not actually doing something about the habit of just working in the business. She was constantly claiming the excuse of being busy with current client work instead of doing daily activities to drive sales.
Habit is a Choice You Make Everyday
When Jenny hired me very reluctantly after having spent her brains out on every marketing guru and program known to man-kind, we drew up a plan and weekly homework lists to get her to her sales goals. In our work, I showed Jenny that it’s not about the insight of why you’re doing or not doing something. It’s a daily practice of mental, physical and emotional muscle that causes change to happen. And the insight itself is never enough to incite a human being to undertake this daily practice and to make the right choice every day.
Having a coach hold Jenny accountable for her daily practices helped her actually get the mindset and more importantly, the discipline to get past hard things. Things like calling past clients, asking different questions of prospects and going out to network with new groups possible. Her results? What do you think happens to a business when the owner starts calling and networking more frequently with prospects? Bingo.
So the next time you take a course or hire a guru to tell you what’s wrong (give you insight), don’t expect it to change anything unless you are also changing your habits around the problem.
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Great article. All entrepreneurs need to hear this.