Doing Things versus Thinking About Doing Them

Sometimes when I'm teaching client workshops—with their customer‐facing teams, including sales and customer service people—and I'm reviewing a sales technique like asking for referrals, someone raises a hand (usually an outside salesperson) and says, “Oh, I ask for referrals all the time.”

And then the conversation goes like this, almost always:

Me: “That's great! Let's talk about that. Tell me about the referrals.”

Salesperson: “My customers are really happy, so they give me a lot of referrals.”

Me: “That's great! How many would you guess?”

Silence.

Me: “In a week, how many referrals would you say you get like this?”

Salesperson: “Two or three.” Then: “At least one.”

Me: “That's great! So about four a month?”

Salesperson: “Yeah. Probably one or two a month.”

Me: “Okay. And when you get these referrals, are they coming in organically, or are you asking for them?” [Remember, this salesperson jumped in to say he asks for referrals all the time.]

Silence.

Nodding.

Silence.

Salesperson: “I guess they're just coming in.”

Me: “That means you're doing great work, and I'm not surprised because I talked to your customers before this workshop started. But I think I'm hearing you say that you don't ask for these referrals?”

Salesperson: “No, I guess I don't.”

So what happened here?

This salesperson thought he often asked for referrals.

But when we talked about it for a minute, he realized he did not.

Why did he think he asked for lots of referrals? (He was not lying when he made his statement. He actually believed he asked for referrals frequently.)

Here's what happened:

Like many salespeople, he confused thinking about doing something with actually doing it.

Most salespeople think they make a quantity of proactive phone calls, but they do not. They think they make a lot of calls because they know they should use the phone more, and they think about doing it a great deal, but they don't actually do it. They think about it so much that they begin to believe they actually do make a number of proactive calls.

Most salespeople know they should ask for the sale frequently. They think about it often, but they do not do it nearly as much. And yet, if you ask most salespeople if they pivot to the sale often, they will tell you yes, they do. But they do not. They merely think about it.

It's the same with referrals. And testimonials. And calling on enough prospects who are not yet customers. And sending a useful, high‐value newsletter to a good list.

We think about these things a lot. So much so that we begin to believe that we do them.

But in reality, we do not.

It's a defense mechanism our brain uses to protect ourselves from self‐criticism, which leads to anxiety and depression.

If we believe we do it already, then there's no need to pressure ourselves further, and there's certainly no reason to beat ourselves up. Because we're already doing it, right?

No, we're not.

Be honest with yourself.

Are you actually executing enough of the proactive communications I've talked about (and discuss in more detail in the coming chapters)?

Or are you just spending time thinking about them, but not necessarily doing them?

We Need Action, Not Perfection

Sales growth requires short, quick, crisp action.

We must communicate.

We must not attempt to perfect these communications.

Perfection leads almost directly to procrastination. In fact, they are basically one and the same.

Taking action is different than meeting about it.

Or planning it for weeks.

Taking action means you have to make the communications.

Because while the products or services need to be perfect, or close to perfect, the communications do not.

They merely need to be helpful.

So, make your communications.

Talk to customers and prospects, all the time.

Take action.

Spread your value far and wide.