Small Steps = Big Sales Bump

Over the last few months I've spent a significant amount of time running. Not because I enjoy it, mostly because I'd like to stay in shape during this time and my Apple Watch won't stop yelling at me.

On a related note, I'm 5'7" tall with pretty short legs. One of my times running, I started to think about elongating my stride just a little. As a baseball and basketball player, I had used a lot of choppy steps when I ran...and that had moved into my long distance running. Simply pushing out a little farther chopped an entire minute off my mile times. It was crazy.

Here's the thing, though. That minute wasn't established in my first step. That minute drop came from the accumulation of all the small, incremental gains over the span of that mile that I got by elongating my stride.

What's my point? We think a lot about the art of sales...but we don't think a lot about the analytics or metrics of sales. The podcast with Russell Scibetti on analytics and sales was awesome...and you should totally listen to it. But all the strides you take from it won't accumulate into improved sales overnight. They will occur slowly and over time...much like growing our pipeline during #COVID19 may not pay off for us in this moment, but it will when we get back to our offices.

Small gains in pipeline, small gains in efficiency, consistently strong activity numbers may not create a ton of results today...but the accumulation over time is incredible. If you close at 1% and I close at 2%, it won't be significant today or tomorrow. But, at the end of the month? Or the end of the year? I'll have doubled your sales.

My Apple Watch gives me awards when I do things consistently. They don't mean shit in terms of value...but they are meaningful to my long-term health. Do the right things and be patient proactive #sportsbiz sales rep. Your time will come...and you'll be healthier than all your peers. That's how sales works.