“People don’t rally around actions…they rally around results.” This profound comment was recently posted by Jason Griffin, Associate Partner at Word Marketing via Facebook. Jason and I are friendly acquaintances, and I was a regular listener to his former radio program. I have great respect for his opinions and talents.
In a follow up conversation with Jason, he explained that his point was meant to explain why certain things are successful, while others fail. When someone or some group is trying to achieve a goal, they are more likely to be successful if they focus on selling the ultimate results versus trying to sell the actions it takes to get there. Check out his blog post on this comment.
If you are trying to get someone to work out because you think they are overweight, you will have far better results if you sell them on the ultimate results: feel better, more energy, look better, etc. If you try to sell them on the idea that running 2 miles at 5am every morning is fun, you probably aren’t going to get an enthusiastic response. I speak from personal knowledge. I don’t really enjoy getting up that early, but it is has proven to be a worthwhile endeavor.
I recall as a child being told about a thousand times that I needed to “keep my eye on the ball” when it came to learning to hit a baseball. Although I did learn to hit, it wasn’t until years later that I finally understood why I struggled so mightily. No one had bothered to explain in enough detail. All my coaches used a bit of sports jargon and expected me to understand. It became something I hated and struggled with constantly. They were trying to sell me on the action and not the result.
When I had the opportunity to coach a team of 11-12 year old boys one season, I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to apply what I had learned. One kid in particular struggled with the same issues I had when it came to hitting. Instead of repeating the useless jargon that was used on me, I got him pumped up about hitting the ball and taught him how not to be afraid of it. He steadily worked his way up in the lineup and was one of our most reliable hitters by the end of the season. His teammates soon stopped joking about his attempts at hitting and started to look for ways to encourage him.
What is it that you would like to achieve? Have you set goals? Written them down and set a due date? Shared them with your staff or co-workers and explained what you hope the ultimate outcome will provide? Take some time and analyze your own situation. If your staff is unmotivated, lackadaisical, and unfocused, it might just be because they haven’t been sold on what your business is trying to accomplish. Give it a shot, after all, what do you have to lose? Or even better, what do you have to gain?
Tags: actions, goals, results, Sales, selling, SuccessCategories: Business, Business Development, Management, Sales, Success.
I have not been able to find any results from actions taken by Obama since he was elected. Can anyone do better?