Nugget #9 - Nothing is new. Success is discovered, not created.
High school science taught us the first law of thermodynamics - energy cannot be created nor destroyed; it can only be converted from one form to another.
The physics of the universe applies to the physics of business.
The elements of success exist all around us. We do not create the elements, but we can bring them into new forms that align us to success. We just need to identify these elements. It’s that simple, and that hard.
We try → fail → learn → retry → until we succeed.
Learning accelerates success. As we learn we are discovering the elements that do and (most often) do not align to our determination of success.
This is what I mean by nothing is new. Information can be new to us, but it’s not new within the universe. We just discover the reality.
From ourselves but most often from others.
There are two primary perspectives of learning:
Personal experience
Other people’s experience
Both perspectives weave with each other as we learn.
Our personal experiences are often the best way to realize problems. When you experience a roadblock, you can’t deny it.
What is not obvious is why our personal experiences manifest. That is where other people’s experiences tend to help.
Other people’s experiences can broaden our perspective. Put on a different lens and see things we could not see with our prior lens.
Much of the outside lens that can help us understand our personal experiences already exist. So many people before you have written books, published articles, given talks about facing very similar problems. With the unprecedented magic of the internet and Google, there is no excuse to avoid the information that other people have already shared.
Again, those avenues for success are not new. They already exist. The difference is our ability to see those paths as we gain new information.
The core output of this nugget is understanding everything is “figureoutable”.
Learning to successfully cold call is like any other process in life. A series of scenarios running into a problem, learning avenues to successfully navigate, and trying those paths until you discover success. Over, and over, and over again.
As I have mentioned in a previous nugget we can measure our success by the size of our problems. The more apt you are about the learning process and progressing through challenges, you are (sometimes seemingly cruelly) “rewarded” with bigger challenges.
Problems do not atrophy. They compound with time. Problems only get bigger as they go unaddressed. Just like if you do not pay a parking ticket, the cost will skyrocket with time. It’s best to solve that problem quickly.
As a sales professional if you do not solve the tactical problems of the profession they will compound. If you cannot get past your opening statement on a cold call, you will never be able to successfully discover value, pique interest in your solution, generate opportunities, etc.
And there is a sequence to solving the right problems. Learning how to master contract negotiations means nothing if you cannot find pathways to lead opportunities to negotiate contracts. There are problems to solve before your skills at that point can flourish.
The last point is why it is critical that we zero in on the most immediate problems we are experiencing and solve for them exactly. If we ignore the problems we are presently facing they will only get worse. Our progress towards success will become even more littered with obstacles.
Progress is often a continuous feedback loop. Solving for the problems of now may require deeper root cause analysis. What you are experiencing now may be a symptom of an earlier situation. Getting hung up on may be a symptom of list building the wrong kinds of personas/potential buyers.
Let’s hammer the point home.
Nearly every experience you have in learning the best methods to maximize your ability as a sales professional has already been experienced by someone before you. A situation may be new to you, but rarely is something going to happen in sales that’s never happened before. There are infinite resources available that have documented nearly every sales scenario ever. Know what those resources are. Use them. When you have a specific problem Google for resources that solve that problem. Master the problem & earn the right to progress to the next problem.