Everyone Wants Different Results - But Few Want to Change
Thursday, October 25th, 2007When you’re in the “change” business like we are at Caskey, we come across a lot of companies/people who say they want different results in the market: more money, more fame, more customers, more profit, etc.Several weeks ago, a prospect sought us out to train his sales/marketing team. After he told us about his $2,000,000/year revenue problem, we began giving him recommendations on how we would approach the project. Through that process, the conversation turned to content - exactly what we would teach his people. While some trainers/developers refuse to talk about that in the sales process, we disagree. If what we teach will be resisted by company/people, then why start?As we discussed some of our philosophies, I sensed he was becoming nervous. I reverted back to the original problems/pains (the ones that were costing him $2,000,000/year). He maintained he was “very open-minded.” (By the way, if people tell you that, be careful. Usually, it’s just them trying to convince themselves of it.)As we continued with our conversation, it became apparent that this was going to be the “client from hell.” The type that says they want help - and want to fix the problem - but they really don’t because they are so emotionally invested (not financially) in their current model. There was so much “resistance” to change that he preferred to stay in his rut (losing $2M/year), rather than change his belief set and take new action.
I learned a valuable lesson there (probably had learned it before, but I need the Universe to remind me): People want different results - but they don’t want to change their thinking and actions to get them.
When’s the last time you changed something major in your business life - how you do something or how you approach something or how you think about something? When’s the last time you took inventory of your sales approach/philosophy (I mean a rigorously honest assessment, with someone from the outside helping you)?
If you haven’t done that in a while, you may be operating at a low optimization rate - and rather than resorting to the worn out adage of “working harder” to accomplish your big goals, maybe you can just work different. If you really do want different results, you might just have to change some things up stream to insure that your goals get met. As a friend says, “Don’t let your ego get in the way of your future.”
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