Monday, November 07, 2005

Good To Great is for Individuals Too

Recently I was talking with several people about the book Good To Great. It really is a powerful book with some great concepts. In particular, the flywheel concept really has been resonating with me. Basically, in the book Jim Collins says a lot of companies give up just before all their hard work was about the pay off. Just like a flywheel the hardest part is getting the momentum started, all the effort is on the bottom, pushing up. But once it gets going it takes on a life of it's own, and starts moving almost effortlessly. Today, I realized that is true with our individual sales efforts.

For me I have been working for a year at various networking organization, sitting on committees, helping out at school and behaving consistently. There have been times when I wondered it is worth it? Are my efforts going to pay off? I can safely say that a year later, the consistent behaving at all of my chosen "cookbook" sources of potential prospects, is paying off. (Wow that was a mouthful.) The truth is that I am having fun, making friends as well as contacts and building relationships.

So don't give up. Take a look at your plan. Make sure you are at the right places. Make sure you are there consistently and be involved in what ever you choose. It is not enough to just show up, get on a committee. And then over time you too will reap the benefits of working a plan. And I too believe you will have fun doing it.