Celebrating 500: It’s All About Process

This post is my 500th blog post! I’m amazed.

Blogging sparked my curiosity about 10 years ago. When I began to write the stories and bits of advice, I had no clear vision of where I was going or for how long.

In the early days, it was an awkward process. I’ve blocked out a lot of the details but definitely remember that the writing, formatting and sending took most of every Sunday. There were no powerful mailing platforms like Active Campaign, which I use today. And I was doing it all without any help. Today the words are mine but the graphics, images and proofreading are all done with creativity and patience by Daley Progress.

So what have I learned? The most important lesson is one each of us already knows but consistently forgets. And not surprisingly, it applies to almost everything, including your sales success.

What’s this most important lesson? And how does it apply to you? And to sales?

Writing 500 blog posts required a process, steps I could follow each week that always lead to hitting “send” on Sunday night. The same is necessary when it comes to creating consistent revenue. You need a process you follow so that, no matter how busy or tired or discouraged you might be, the process continues to deliver results.

Here’s a quick look at what that process can include:

1. Stay Curious: Deciding to write a blog every week meant … I needed something to write about weekly. Yikes! Curiosity became my best tool. I began walking through every week looking for ideas. In the beginning, this was a bit annoying, almost too much work. But very quickly I found myself revisiting a favourite childhood activity. Our family home had a backyard that turned into an expanse of rocks and bush. I never tired of squeezing through the overgrown hedge and spending hours looking for … something. Pyrite, quartz, blueberries. It didn’t matter what I found. The joy was in the curiosity and the adventure. Blog ideas are the same. Sometimes I hear them on the radio, or read them in an article, or experience them online. And this level of curiosity is also essential to creating consistent revenue. In articles, videos, referrals and conversations with clients, you want to recognize an opportunity for a potential new ideal client.
2. Capture the Information: Blog ideas can slip away very quickly and I know I’ve “lost” as many as I’ve saved. Part of the process is multiple ways to record these ideas: scraps of paper and pens in the car, in pockets and shoulder bags, the recording app on my phone, repetition out loud in the hopes that it will stay in my memory. I visualize a tickle trunk of ideas (thank you Mr. Dressup) that I look forward to opening each week. For potential ideal clients, I follow the same process. But instead of a tickle trunk, I have a CRM (customer relationship management system) to store the information. I open it every day.
3. Play: When a blog post is an idea in my head, it always seems like it will simply write itself, come out on to the screen quickly and easily. Hah! This rarely happens. There’s always doubt, words that slip away, awkward sentences and, quite often, both despair and annoyance. I’ve come to look at this process as play, not work. It’s messy, like finger painting or mud pies. The results are never what I originally envisioned … but they are often better. Reaching out to a new potential client is the same. Doubt, fear and procrastination are all part of the process. It’s messy. Viewing the work – the research, preparation and approach – as play, allows you to enjoy consistently creating new revenue.
4. Schedule the Time: My blog post goes out on Sundays at 7:45 pm Atlantic. Having this as an absolute deadline means that I must schedule a time during the week to get it written. I need to write a very messy draft, walk away, review/edit the messy draft, walk away, polish the draft, then send it to Linda Daley. This can take an hour … or 2.5 hours. It’s a commitment I’ve made to myself – and to you – so there’s no alternative. I have to get it done. The financial health of your business is a commitment too. And not only to yourself but to your family and your existing clients. You have to keep finding and approaching new potential clients in order to create consistent revenue … to thrive. Your sales process makes this easy, efficient and reliable.

My thanks to you, my readers, for being part of my blog process. It’s so fulfilling to share my thoughts and experiences with you. As I look ahead to 2021, I have to acknowledge that much has changed in the past decade. Certainly, we all have more posts, videos and emails arriving each day. And my world is busier, both at home and at work. So, come January, my words will arrive every two weeks – still on Sunday and still at 7:45 pm Atlantic.

And, if you’d like to evaluate or enhance your current sales process, I encourage you to assess your skills and then set up a time for us to talk.

#InspireConversation