Coaches' Corner~Linear

Coaches are often called to dispel notions that have persisted over many years in the hopes of improving the lives of their clients.  You may have had the opportunities to dispel some of those ideas yourself.  Network marketing is one area where myths abound and well-meaning consultants promote futile activity to unsuspecting prospects.  The old way of doing things have simply changed and in order to be successful, business people have to keep pace.  One such activity is making sales calls because many of those you are calling are themselves making sales calls and do not welcome yours or even answer their phones unless the recognize the number.  People often give you their phone numbers and simply do not answer their phones when you call.  You get discouraged after making so many calls and often give up.  Believe it or not, your clients are doing this every day and they need the guidance of an extraordinary coach to combat this phenomenon.  By the time a prospect gets to this point, they have actually connected with at least one valuable person that can bring several dollars to the company.  The person who introduced them to the company has long-since quit and reaps no benefit from introducing this true winner to the company.  You may get several clients just like this and similar to them, you must continue to get clients, keeping some, and losing others until you hit your stride and begin attracting the clients that will stay with you for a very long time.

You may have heard advice that include working backwards from the goal you have set.  For instance if you want to make 20 sales per month, ask yourself how many people do you need to talk to in order to get 20 sales?  How many people do you need to call to talk to the amount you need to end up with 20 sales?  If 20 sales per day is your goal, that is 5 per week, right?  And 5 per week is 1 per day, right?  You are familiar with these types of questions.  The fallacy is that your success is not linear.  You might be further told that you must make at least 100 phone calls and evaluate your percentages based on that.  Even though 100 is a good number,that is not an accurate predictor of your success.  As you evaluate your progress, it is very easy to get discouraged and stop trying altogether.  You do not have to be a weak-kneed, pamzy whamsy, milquetoast kind of individual to fall prey to this kind of effect, you simply can be an average person.  And neither do you have to be thick-skinned and superman-like to overcome this tendency either.  You need only be made aware of the existence of the fallacy.  When you examine the record, you will find that days before hitting it big, some persons had a “negative nothing” in their bank balance.  And as they grew their business, they did not earn $2,000 per month even though they finished the year at $24,000, which was their goal.

I am sure you know that Colonel Sanders died a multimillionaire even though his fortune begun at age 65.  Grandma Moses only started painting at age 90.  And who knows how much money Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have now or have made this year.  By the advice given to many, a net worth of $10,000,000 for the past ten years might mean they earned $1,000,000 per year for ten years.  The trouble is that the universe or God is not privy to your timetable and you will never get there if you quit.  Of all the processes that you know of, you can never say that the growth occurs on a linear timetable.  In fact, they most likely made nothing for the first 11 months and made $10,000,000 the last month.  Retailers say that December is their best month after working hard all year and that last month makes their.  Even a human being grows more during the first eighteen years of life than they do after that.  Forget the idea of evaluating your success in a linear way because you will surely quit before your time.

Stake out your goal and make sure it is big enough.  Make an effort to encourage yourself and never give up.  It is your belief in its accomplishment that makes your goal important.  If you have the faith that you can accomplish it, keep on keeping on.  Even though you are ninety percent along your way and only thirty percent toward you goal, keep on striving.  Napoleon Hill said in his book, “Think and Grow Rich,” that when success comes it will come so fast and in such a magnitude that you will wonder where it has been and what took it so long.  Does that sound like equal production month by month?  I don’t think so.  I believe his assessment is true and the key I give to you is to set a goal 10X what you think you want and keep your foot on the gas until the absolute last moment, then enjoy your success.  I encourage you to share the concept with your clients as they will need you more than ever.  When you release them from the bondage of ‘How far along are you in your goal?’ they will truly feel free to fail and to succeed which will help them brand you as an extraordinary coach.

As always, if this blog has helped you or gotten you farther along toward your goal, please share it with others.  I end this blog like all others when I say to you, have a good time until next time.