You Half To
Recently, I poured a glass of water. Actually, I filled it half-way. I did it for a reason. What could that reason be and how does it apply to business and life?
Half-Full or Half-Empty?
Ah, a glass half-full. That’s what I poured. That’s the noble view of an optimist. We all need water and half a glass of water is better than none at all. In business, maybe you look at the positives when you get half of what you would like. You wanted to raise $5 M last year. You didn’t, but at least you got $2.5 M. That’s good. The glass is half-full. Next time if you go for $10 M you will at least get $5 M since you learned quite a few things along the way. At least that’s the logic.
Actually, that glass I poured is half-empty. That is the self-proclaimed downer or “realistic” view. Surely the glass could have been filled to the brim! Why wasn’t it? What is the problem? Similarly, $2.5 M less than expected was raised. You certainly could have done better! At least that’s the logic.
Water in a Glass
How about another view? That view is: there is water in a glass. Period. It is just what is there. That’s it. Everything else is a narrative about it. So, you raised $2.5 M on a goal of $5 M. That’s just what happened. Period. Now, if you want to raise your goal, there is one sure way to do it. Develop and train yourself like your life depends on it. Wait…it can’t be that easy? It actually is.
Questions for Referrals
Have you studied sales? If so, you know what a tie-down at the end of a sentence is, don’t you? (Hint: I just used one to demonstrate it.) Do you avoid say-no questions? Maybe to raise that additional $2.5 M, next time you are going to stay up late at night just thinking of all the possible objections to your offering. Then, you are going to practice your carefully thought out, clear responses. Maybe you are going to put in the consistent effort of practicing and repeating your responses over and over until what you are going to say in a sales situation comes out naturally with confidence? Full preparation. Know your delivery. By the way, I once spent 20 hours preparing for a 5-minute delivery. That’s what it takes. What if you put that kind of rigorous effort into your endeavors? I don’t think you would care about half-empty or half-full narratives anymore. I don’t. I care about doing the prep work with integrity so that extraordinary results get produced for my clients.
Maybe you are going to learn how to get referrals with a string of phrases like, “'When was the last time you were on a Zoom call with a group of friends?’ They answer. Then you ask, ‘Who do you remember on that call that could use my offering?’ They answer. ‘Why could they use my offering?’ They answer. ‘What's the best way for me to reach out to them?’”
See how specific we get? We are talking about a group at a specific time they remember. We ask, “Who…?” and not “Do you know…?” This approach narrows things down and that opens things up! When I was a novice, I would ask, “Do you know anyone who is looking for what I offer?” That is a say-no question that is so broad – referring to “anyone” – as to be useless. Until I learned that “anyone” is the same as “everyone”, which is the same as “no one,” my progress suffered. I learned to be specific the hard way.
There’s No Halfway About It
The highly trained and skilled sales practitioner produces results. The unskilled talk about narratives, which go nowhere. Who do you want to be?
Please avoid the dilemma of half-full or half-empty altogether. See things for what they are, not from your constructed narrative. Do the work of reading, studying, learning, training, re-reading, and practicing your expertise and developing new skills over and over. Your success will soon follow with ease. You will start to spend more time with other successful people, who will then accelerate your growth and success.
In closing, there is no substitute for developing and training yourself. There is no half-way about it. Free yourself from your narrative and develop yourself all the way. You half to.
Here's to you and your awesome future.
Until then, keep your feet on the board and keep riding your wave!
Robert J. Khoury
CEO Agile Rainmakers