Success in 2009 – Eat That Frog!

Achieving success is never easy. It takes desire, discipline and skill, but this year more than any other is tougher because of the grinding economy – sales cycles are longer, buying budgets have been cut and customers may be more preoccupied with their own job security than buying what you are selling.

This dip in the economy will pass – they always do. In the meantime, you have to stay mentally tough.  The bad press about the economy, layoffs, cutbacks, doom and gloom easily distracts reps. Complaints such as “no one is buying” or “my accounts suck”  are fair but they don’t help you be in the positive frame of mind required to capitalize when opportunity knocks. Many of your peers will get wound up in what they perceive to be insurmountable odds and stop making as many calls, stop booking as many meetings – they anticipate defeat and make it a self fulfilling prophecy.

I just read Brian Tracy’s book “Eat That Frog”, a book about doing the small things that result in success. Focus on next single action you can take to move closer to success rather than the size of the challenge or the obstacles that may arise. There was a quote in there, I don’t think it is his, but it went something like this:

By the yard its hard,

but inch by inch,

anything is a cinch

Sure there is a slowdown and sure that makes it tougher, but every day billions of dollars change hands and many accounts are buying – you just have to find them.

Push yourself to ignore the big picture and focus on the one thing you can do right now to move closer to a win.

There is a saying that the best way to eat an elephant is…..one bite at a time. It applies now.