Kids, Deadlines, and Sales

Are you in sales? And do you have or interact with children?

Because there's a lot to be learned about sales in dealing with kids.

I don't know about you, but more often than not our kids don't actually get off the couch and clean up the mess until they're about to reach the breaking point of our patience. We implore the 1-2-3 parenting method at our house and it usually turns into "1 . . . 2 . . . two-and-half . . . two and three-quarters . . ." and finally there's action.

Not until there is a deadline with some sort of consequence do we really see progress made.

Call it procrastination, busyness, laziness, whatever, but if we as humans don't see an urgent or significant need to act, we usually don't. It's just easier to do nothing or put it off until tomorrow. Set a deadline, though, (i.e. if I count to three then no T.V. for the rest of the day), and all of sudden there's urgency.

Deadlines make us prioritize our limited time or resources.

Same thing in sales.

As a manager of a small business, sales is the key driver of our engine: ad sales, subscription sales, event sales. No sales means no cash flow and no profit. No cash flow and no profit mean no business.

So how do we drive sales?

We start by using one of my Dad's (@mjstoddard) foundational marketing principles: AIDA.
Attention
Interest
Desire
Action

If you want to get a response from a direct mail letter, an email, a flier, or whatever marketing piece you're working on, make sure you grab their attention, get their interest, create a desire for your product, and include a call to action.

It's that last item where deadlines have become of paramount importance. I have found that nothing drives action quite like a good deadline.

We can send a fantastic email to our potential advertisers listing all of the wonderful benefits we offer a month ahead of the deadline . . . and nothing. Maybe a sale or two, but nothing too significant.

Then the day before a deadline, we send out an email to advertisers saying today is the last day to get a special deal and . . . BOOM—$5,640 in new sales.

People don't act until they have to—either because of a time deadline or a scarcity of product. It's something I count on every month or year for whatever sales cycle I am working on.

So rather than bemoan the fact that we're all procrastinators in one degree or another, embrace it. Plan on it. Make the most of it.

Set your deadline to take action.

Running Toward Success

Last week I ran in the Hobbler Half Marathon through picturesque Hobble Creek Canyon in Springville, UT. 800 or so of my closest running friends and I glided down the gentle slopes of the canyon along the narrow highway and paved running/biking trail. Because of its long and relatively steep decent, the Hobbler Half is known for producing PRs—personal records.

I signed up for the race just days before, but I still was excited and confident that I would get my PR.

After an early 4:30 a.m. wake-up call from my alarm, a long bus ride up the canyon to the starting line, and 30-40 minutes of waiting with hundreds of other anxious runners, I was off. And I definitely was off with the intent to beat . . . no, crush . . . my previous PR. For my level of running I was cruising down the canyon.

Mile 1, done.

Mile 2, easy.

Mile 3, get out of my way.

Mile 4, 5, and 6, I’ve got this.

Mile 7, well maybe I’m going too fast for my own good.

Mile 8, yup, this is going to be tough to maintain.

It was at this point I realized my body wasn’t built to sustain that pace despite my somewhat obsessive training regimen. I was running out of gas. Nature took over and my pace slowed waaaaaay down.

Fortunately I made it through the race. After trudging through (or at least that’s how I felt) the final 3-4 miles, I came within a minute of my PR. But I didn’t quite make it.

Which begs the question and point of this whole post: was I successful?

On the one hand I did take 75^th place out of about 800 runners. Not bad. But at the same time there were 74 people ahead of me—quite a few for a relatively small race (there were about 4,000 runners at the SLC Half Marathon in April). And I didn’t get my PR.

So what is success?

You’re probably familiar with John Wooden’s definition:

“Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”

I love that other people or outside indicators—such as a scoreboard, race clock, or bank account—don’t define our success or failure.  We do.

But I also love the flip side—the responsibility of success is on us. Simply trying or having fun won’t lead to greatness, though effort is a key ingredient. In fact, you can’t even leave it at “do your best.”

We not only have to do our best, but funnel that energy and efficiency into becoming the best we are capable of becoming.

What is the best you are capable of becoming? And are you doing your best to reach that? Answer yes to that question, and no matter the score, no matter the results, you are successful.

Let’s face it, I’ll never win a Half Marathon, no matter how hard I try. But that’s not my measuring stick of success.

Rather, did I do my best to become the best runner I’m capable of being?

Fortunately for me, only I can answer that question. And you are the only one that can answer that question for you—what is your best? And did you do your best to become your best self?

As to my question about whether my half marathon was a success, I say yes. I learned from the experience and have now set goals to do better. But for that one summer morning, I have the self-satisfaction of knowing I gave it my all in the pursuit of my best.

So aim high—not in position, or rank, or title necessarily. Expect the best from yourself in whatever role you play, no matter how big or small it is.

Do your best at becoming your best self.

Then, at the end of the day—regardless of results—sit back and enjoy the peace, self-satisfaction, and fulfillment from knowing you were a success.

Don't Leave it in the Shower . . .

Yup, you read that title right. Don't leave it in the shower.

Don't leave what?

Your next great idea that is going to change the world!

Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari, once commented, "Everyone who's ever taken a shower has an idea. It's the person who gets out, dries off, and does something about it who makes a difference."

And isn't that why we're here on this little rock of ours—to make a difference? Well, we can't "make a difference" if we don't do anything. Ideas, as the saying goes, are a dime a dozen. It's easy to critique others as we passively view them. It's easy to sit back and say what we would do differently or how we would have made something better.

But the problem with that line of thinking is that we are living in the conditional tense—would've, could've, should've. All three of those conditional words imply that while we could have done something, we DIDN'T.

And as another favorite saying of mine goes (from the play Shenandoah), "If we don't try, then we don't do. And if we don't do, then why are we here?"

There are inherent risks in trying something new or different. The most obvious risk is failure. But why is that such a bad thing? Everyone fails at one time or another. Perhaps to varying degrees, but anyone who has ever had the guts to go out and try something new, to do something different, to stand out and make a difference, has failed or not quite reached their goals. But when we shoot for the stars and instead hit the moon, look at the progress we made and the heights we attained.

Why sit on the sideline and act as if life is a spectator sport? If we play it safe and never try, then you're right, we won't feel disappointment or rejection. But we'll also never feel the exhilaration of success, the satisfaction and inner peace of accomplishment, and the fulfillment of helping others and actually making a difference.

The old basketball cliche is true—you will miss 100% of the shots you don't take. That means the more shots we take, the more times we'll miss. Conversely, by taking those shots we also set ourselves up for more success. Michael Jordan is credited with saying, "I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over again in my life. AND THAT'S WHY I SUCCEED!"

When I was growing up I had two ideas that I facetiously regret not acting upon.

The first was this grand idea I had in the 9th grade for a fast food Italian restaurant. There was nothing like it around in Utah—though I later found out that there were these types of restaurants back East. I even drew up the layout of the restaurant with a friend. A great "shower" idea. But I left it there. A few years later out comes Fazolis, the Italian fast food restaurant.

The second ingenious thought popped into my head while at the dinner table as an elementary student. I was fed up with having to spread butter on my rice, so I said I was going to invent butter you could spray. Well, obviously spray butter is a common grocery store item now—but it wasn't back then, at least not in Utah or in my home. My family and I often joke that I should have been the inventor of the spray butter.

Should have.

But I didn't. I left it in the "shower."

So the next time you have an idea or prompting, act on it. Do something about it. Don't leave it in the shower.

Dare to make a difference!