A friend of mine was making follow-up sales calls to prospective clients he’d spoken to previously. He commented that the mindset for making follow-up calls is different from the mindset of first calls and the two activities should be done at different times.
I agree. Don’t edit when you write and don’t write when you edit. Two different activities, two different mindsets.
My friend cold calls. When he makes a first call, he is prospecting. He moves quickly through large lists. He is sorting, looking for someone who will take his call and agree to look at some information. His focus is on the mechanical act of dialing rather than the quality of any one conversation. He knows that if he makes a certain number of dials, he will get a certain number of leads.
Follow-up calls are different. When he calls someone who agreed to look at some information, my friend is in sales mode. He engages the prospect. He asks questions to find out their hot buttons. When he knows what they want, he can show them how his service can help them get it. My friend answers questions and responds to objections. He moves the prospect forward to the next step, using finesse and skill.
It is important to my friend that he separates first calls from follow-ups because the mindset, energy, and rhythm are so different. When he’s prospecting and banging out calls, the last thing he wants to do is slow down and change gears into sales mode. It’s better to keep dialing and racking up leads and make follow-up calls later, after a break.
This is good advice for any activity. Do your work in bunches. Finish one bunch before moving onto another.
See new clients during a two hour block of time rather than spaced out throughout the day. Make all your calls to adjusters back to back. Review three files in a row.
When you get into the rhythm and feel of an activity, stay in it as long as you can. When you’re in a groove, you’ll get more done. Time will pass more quickly. You’ll get better results.
Psychologists refer to this as “flow“. One of the hallmarks of being in a state of flow is joy. It comes from being fully immersed in an activity and focusing on that and nothing else.
Joy is the catalyst to growth. The more my friend is on the phone, the better he gets at what he does (he just reported going seven for seven on first calls), and the joy he feels makes him want to do more.
When you find the joy in what you’re doing, success is imminent. You don’t need a psychologist to explain it:
The more you do of something, the better you get. The better you get, the better your results. The better your results, the more you enjoy it. The more you enjoy it, the more you want to do it. And the more you do it, the better you get.
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